Sister Knights Episode IX: The Rise Of The Sleeping Knights
by Night Fury Warrior
Summary: The Sleeping Knights are caught up in the Yuuzhan Vong war, but another threat is presenting itself. Only one member of the Knights is strong enough to deal with it, but the rest of them have their own mission to complete...


**G'day! Well, we had a lot to get through last Episode. Literally, that episode had the most notes of things I needed to do out of any episode I have planned. Nearly twice the amount of notes Episode 7 had, and this had the same as Ep7 when I wrote this, but now it's about twice as many notes as Ep8 XD. But for now…Welcome! Sister Holidays Episode 9! Aside from a few things I have to tie up from the last one, this is going to be fairly new territory for the Knights. Because we're in the middle of a war! Yip. Anyway, let's get started.**

**Oh, one more thing. Don't think I've mentioned it here, but if you're interested in stuff about this story and much more, go check out the Caster's Network Wiki on FANDOM! We've got the full timeline of SH/SK, and plenty of stuff that should be noted in the stories but probably hasn't been. Plus just some backstories that didn't make their way into any stories, and maybe a character or two who may never have even been mentioned yet? (Please note: There are also spoilers for future content. Like Lyla Klal's page…) Admittedly, most of them are unfinished pages too… Anyway…**

**Enjoy!**

_**Sector 1: Invasion of Earth**_

_**Stella Khai's POV:**_

**Wake**

**26 ABY; 2063 Earth Time**

It's been four years since we fought Luke Nawai. Four years since Lyla Klal joined the Sleeping Knights. Four years since the _Furious Destroyer_ was upgraded and renamed as the _Scarlet Eviscerator_.

_Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that last time?_

Well, the _Night Fury_ was also brought back to working condition, with new upgrades _again_.

Those that managed to escape Gaalia created a new Starfleet Academy on Zastion, which was much closer to the happenings of the rest of the galaxy. So they were aiding us in the current war.

Oh yeah, a war against some alien race from outside the galaxy started a year ago. The Yuuzhan Vong, a race who use biological technology that was pretty damn crazy. They actually destroyed the Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4 a while ago, and now the Jedi that were training there are being sent to Shelter, a space station inside The Maw. Styra had been sent with them as well. Though until that's ready, they're all on the _Errant Venture_. Speaking of, a certain Skywalker was just born on said Star Destroyer. So my guess is, Ben's probably going to be staying at Shelter for a while too.

To more pleasant things, Lara moved in with Matt a couple years ago, and just last year Sonia and Jane got married in Ardia!

Lyla was doing well with us, though until last year had only been with us on training missions. Now she was aiding us as we were spread around the galaxy fighting the Yuuzhan Vong. She had returned her hair to its original black (though it was still long) and was a real help in battle with her skills. It hadn't taken her long to take on a motherly role while we were all out on the field, which was pleasant.

Oh, and since Jane and Sonia are married now, the title of heir to the throne of Arendelle has been passed to Tarev and Savara. Soooo…that can only end well… Though technically Jane is in charge of Arendelle for the moment since Elsa felt it necessary.

**VirtNet – GGO**

At the moment, I was in the middle of a Squad Jam event in GGO. I cautiously trekked through the city with Natsuki (Felix), Kiaht (Tarev), Savaage (Savara), Laria (Lara) and Echo, a friend I had made in GGO earlier this year.

"We're clear to the North," Echo reported.

"No sight of enemies to the South," Natsuki confirmed.

"West is clear," Laria nodded.

"Same goes for East," Kiaht said.

"Scan's coming up, let's hide in that house," I indicated. The group and I cautiously entered the run-down building.

I opened my map and watched as the scan went over.

"Only us and two other teams. NYMS is less than a click to the West so they're the ones we'll have to deal with first. FAACKS is a little further away to the North," I noted.

"Well, FAACKS wanted it to be them and us, so we may as well give it a go. Besides, I think people would like to see BNKSLE versus FAACKS," Savaage smirked.

In actuality, FAACKS were Fury, Arensa, Anita, Claire, Karian and Savara. Though we knew them as Chris, Vestara, Elsa, Anna, Kairi and Clarissa. Echo didn't know this of course, as he didn't really know anything about our real lives. Heck, this was the first time he had ever met any of the others aside from me and Natsuki in GGO.

Team NYMS on the other hand was only a four-person team consisting of some casual players who just happened to be pretty good at the game. Night, Yuki, Minx and Saluxa. From what I had figured out earlier watching them fight another team, Night seemed to use an AR-15 just like Arensa. Yuki and Minx had shotguns of some sort, and Saluxa used a KiSteer 1284 projectile rifle.

"Alright, NYMS will know we're here too so we need to get a move on. Echo, you and Natsuki are our ARs so you'll come in on the enemy in a pincer manoeuvre. I'll be going up the front with my lightsabre. Laria, you're behind me. Spray the enemy with your P90, it may cause some panic. Kiaht, Savaage, you're sniping as usual. Get some vantage points in the houses and cover us. Any questions?" I explained.

"Nothing from me, Rock, I'm ready to go," Echo nodded. The others also agreed.

"Well, let's go."

We all took our positions, and I stood in the middle of the street. Sure enough, it drew out the enemy as a sniper shot from Saluxa came straight at me. It grazed my cheek and cut a small piece of my hair as I quickly dodged out of the way.

I ignited my blue lightsabre and blocked the next sniper shot with ease using the bullet line. More gunfire began as Echo and Natsuki engaged the enemy from their sides. I rushed forward, blocking a couple more sniper shots and making sure none hit Laria who was right behind me.

I then had to block a hail of bullets from Night's AR-15. Laria slid underneath my open legs and filled Night up with a clip from her P90. He fell over, dead.

A sniper shot without a bullet line came over my head and hit Minx square in the head, instantly killing her. A second shot without a bullet line took out Saluxa.

_That's our snipers' two hidden shots. Now it's up to us._

I quickly jumped in front of Laria and took the full brunt of the final shotgun, draining my health to the red. I looked back at Laria whose ammo was done. If she had more in her storage, she wouldn't get it fast enough.

Thankfully, Yuki was blasted away by a HK243.

"Thanks, Echo," I sighed.

"Anytime, Rock. Here, heal up," he said, tossing me a health-kit. I gladly used it and my health returned to 75%.

Suddenly, I heard shots from two M24s.

"Snipers, report," I commanded.

"Team FAACKS has found us. Currently under fire from Fury and Savara's DC-15 rifles," came Savaage's voice.

_So Savara is being attacked by Savara. Huh._

"Wait, where are the others?" Echo questioned.

Before I could reply, shots came from an SR-47 and riddled Laria.

_Crap, Lara was taken out by her mother!_

My sabre was once more ignited and I blocked a bunch of bullets from Karian's FN FAL. Natsuki also ignited his sabre as Arensa started shooting at him.

I noticed Anita trying to get closer with her AR-17 shotgun.

_Not this time._

I ducked away from Karian's bullets, equipped my F-11D and shot at Anita. I got a headshot and killed her.

I took aim again and blasted Claire as she made a run for more cover.

As I was about to shoot at Arensa, my blaster was shot out of my hands by Fury. Lightsabre immediately back in my hand, I blocked the purple blade of my father.

_Savara is down, Tarev is hurt but alive. I guess mum is gonna try to finish him off._

I blocked multiple hits from Fury, before seeing an opening. I used my superior AGI and got behind his defences, cutting him in half.

I heard a cry and saw Kiaht's name get crossed out. Natsuki's health suddenly drained and I saw both Arensa and Karian focusing on him. I wondered where Echo was, but suddenly Arensa's bullet lines stopped and she was dead. I noticed the white-haired American boy behind where Arensa had been and smiled.

Natsuki however was eliminated when blue lasers came from Savara.

I grabbed my F-11D again and aimed at her. However, I didn't put my finger on the trigger.

_Time to do this the old-fashioned way._

I lined up a shot, and quickly pulled the trigger. Without even showing a bullet line, a red laser hit Savara in the head. Though the shot had given away my position, and I was killed by Karian.

But before the game took me back to the lobby, I saw Echo shoot Karian in the back of the head.

_Good job, Echo. You won it for us._

**!=-{+}-=!**

"Hell yeah! Congrats guys!" I laughed.

We were all at my in-game apartment, celebrating our little victory in Squad Jam.

"Y'know, you're terrifying sometimes, Rock. When you go competitive you become totally serious and lose all emotions. Totes different from your normal personality," noted Echo.

"Yeah, I've always done that. When it comes to competition, I'm in it to win it. Especially in a game like GGO," I nodded.

_And because normally I have to force myself to not act like I do in the Sleep while in games. When it comes to competitions I don't bother. I guess my mind still thinks a life-threatening situation in this is as dangerous as it is in the Sleep._

Of course, Echo didn't know about my other life. Hell, he didn't know anything about me aside from what I usually share online anyway. He had no idea who I really was, and I had no idea who he really was. I only knew he was American and had a messed up sleeping schedule that meant he was awake during our day time.

"You should see her in actual dangerous situations," smirked Kiaht. I just punched him in the arm.

"Please don't just divulge my life story online. Or should I tell him about you and your sister's time alongside me," I pouted.

"I mean, pretty sure Echo would love that. We're pretty cool," joked Savaage.

I just facepalmed.

I noticed Echo glancing between the twins, since he hadn't known they were siblings. Then his gaze returned to me, and I looked away quickly.

"Wait you've been in actual dangerous situations?" he questioned.

"You could say that…but unless we decide to meet you don't need to worry about that," I replied, glaring at Kiaht.

Echo just laughed as Kiaht retreated away from my view.

"We should log off, Rock. That thing we've been doing doesn't wait for anything," reminded Natsuki.

"Yeah, it really doesn't. Alright, thanks for joining us, Echo! I'll probably be back on tomorrow if you're not busy," I smiled.

"I got nothin' on, so yeah! I'll be here," he nodded.

"'Kay, see ya! Black Rock Shooter out," I said, and logged out.

**Wake**

I got out of the NerveBox at the same time as Felix.

"That Squad Jam was longer than expected. Hopefully by the time we get to the Dream Realm they won't have already been overrun by the Yuuzhan Vong," he noted.

"They should be fine. This is the Qeios Guardians and Arendelle Royal Military we're talking about. I don't think the Vong would have taken Qeios overnight," I reassured him.

"True. Still, let's have a quick dinner," he smiled.

The Sleeping Knights had been separated throughout the Galaxy into pairs for the war. I was, of course, with Felix. And we had just returned back home to Qeios after reports came in of a Yuuzhan Vong attack fleet near Earth. Sonia and Jane of course were always on Earth these days unless they were needed elsewhere, and the Arendelle twins were helping to defend Arendelle. So we took it upon ourselves to defend Qeios.

Things really seemed to be going terribly, but we held our hopes high.

**Sleep**

Almost as soon as I awoke, I was wearing my outfit which I had altered since the war began, putting on a singlet rather than the bikini I used to wear. Mainly because I had spent some time on warmer planets and didn't want to readjust to the cold, but also…because I had grown a bit in _that_ area and it had been drawing unwanted attention.

_As Amea would have said, 'Baka hentai.'_

Amea Nerriss being a friend from Medoua who had turned out to be a Princess of another kingdom.

With my weapons on my belt, I made my way through the temporary barracks we had set up on the coast just south of Accordia; Qeios' trading hub, after the Yuuzhan Vong had successfully invaded England. And England was only a few kilometres off the coast of Qeios and our neighbouring kingdom down south, Dunbroch.

"Report, what happened overnight," I commanded as I came to the forward communications base.

"Yuuzhan Vong have begun invading the north-west of Dunbroch and have tried to make a move on Qeios' borders. Our Guardians have held them back but require reinforcements," an officer reported.

"Alright. Felix, let's head down to the border and help out," I said.

Felix nodded and we got in the _Night Fury_. Due to our pairings, Felix's _VirtuGauntlet_-class had been loaned to Matt while he flew the _Night Fury_ with me.

We flew the 30 kilometres south and went over the border, using an Arendelle Helicarrier as cover.

"That's a pretty big battle down there," called Felix as we came back around and went over our own forces.

"Nowhere near what we faced on Da Soocha V or Ylesia," I reminded.

"Lara and Lyla reported a pretty big force on Kinyen as well. And I think Rika and Matt were forced to retreat from Sinsang. So yeah, the Vong are really pushing us," he sighed.

"Indeed. Well, we just need to keep pushing back."

"_Night Fury_, come in. This is Sonia," came Sonia's voice over the comms.

"_Night Fury_ here," I answered.

"Enemy troops have entered Allona. They landed in Gorgonroth without our knowledge, managed to fight through Roseon after Narnia put up a fight, and now they're trying to get to our eastern border through Allona which is relatively undefended. I've dispatched what I can there, but they'll need your help," she alerted.

"Copy that Sonia, we're on our way now," Felix confirmed as we steered the ship towards Allona. "Anything else we may need to know?"

"Stillwater fell, and now Westeros is about to fall. Reports have just come in of enemies down in Argonia, Zealand, Sydnia, Hyrule and Vrehan. They launched a planet-wide assault and took half of Earth by surprise. Places like United Medoua, Fremmevilla, Kuschpercha and Zaloudek are fairly okay right now and are lending aid to neighbouring kingdoms. Pretty much every war has been put on hold because of the Vong," Sonia reported.

"Oh boy, perhaps Qeios should recall its forces from elsewhere in the galaxy. We should be able to defend Earth with the Empire's full resources," I suggested.

"Indeed, I was talking to Jane about it and we have both agreed to call our forces back to Earth. Qeios is currently trying to fix up our and Arendelle's old TSFs, but that may take a couple days. Once we get some more forces though, I want you to go to aid Zealand. We can't let Medoua fall, and that's the closest Vong force," she nodded.

"Copy that, we'll do what we can. Keep us updated," I said.

"Perhaps this will be as bad as Da Soocha V," Felix groaned.

"Perhaps. It may be time to call the rest of the Knights back since Earth is our home world," I sighed.

We soon entered Allona and flew over some local military forces. We landed at a base as five Tactical Surface Fighters launched.

"You must be the Sleeping Knights. Your aid is much appreciated," nodded one of the commanding generals as we disembarked from the shuttle.

"Well, we're two of them. Let us know where we're needed, we'll do what we can," I said.

"The front lines are about 2 clicks to the west, but they're pushing through rapidly," he alerted.

"Alright. Let's go."

We took off once again, this time being escorted by another three of Allona's JAS-39 Gripen TSFs.

We quickly came under fire from a couple of enemy Coralskippers. One TSF immediately got shot down before we armed our guns and made quick work of the two enemy fighters.

The only problem was that even more Coralskippers replaced the two we had just defeated.

_Now I understand why there were barely any TSFs in any of the bases we passed. They've probably all been destroyed by these Coralskippers._

"I think it's time," I said.

"I think so," Felix nodded.

I hit some buttons on the computer and sent a signal to a certain Dreadnaught trying to hold off any more Vong from entering the system.

Within a minute, the countless Coralskippers around us were being destroyed. An army of what looked like Separatist Droid Tri-Fighters, though upon closer inspection bared little resemblance to the old Tri-Fighters outside of their shape, covered the skies and rained down hell on all the Yuuzhan Vong.

We had knocked out a rather large section within the _Scarlet Eviscerator_ after the war began, and we've been producing our own droid fighters on-board. It was a joint operation with Qeios Shipyards who designed the ships and have also been producing them in secret in-case a situation such as this ever arrived.

The fighters were called QS-SK Y-3 Droid Fighters; they operated on top of the line A.I. with tough armour plating designed to resist most Yuuzhan Vong weapons. They were also armed with custom built QE X-94 Heavy Piercing-Cannons, which could even pierce through some of the strongest armour plating in the galaxy, and Vindicator XM-15 'brilliant' missiles.

Due to the way its name was laid out, it had often been given the nickname of SKYE Droid.

The only problem was they were expensive to produce, and it was hard to find the materials for them. So we were always going to be hesitant on using them for even a single lost droid would be costly.

"I reckon we should get those X-94s on the _Night Fury_," I smirked as I watched the SKYE Droids wipe out the entire frontlines of the Vong.

"I'm going to trust your judgement on saying that was necessary," came Sonia's voice from the comms.

"We did have like, a hundred Coralskippers around us. Plus, they're adapting. The guns on this thing haven't been updated in 28 years so it's been easy for them to get used to our out-dated tech," Felix told her.

"Very well, the first fleet of Qeian Star Destroyers have arrived, which means we can send reinforcements to Allona. Go to Zealand. May want to take some of those Y-3 Droids with you," she commanded.

We both nodded and set course for Zealand.

It was a rather silent journey, but as we flew over Roseon and Gorgonroth, we quickly realised how bad it was for some of these countries. All I could do as we flew over Zaloudek was watch as varying models of Silhouette Knights were blown to bits. Though I quietly sent some of our Y-3 droids to help my friend's kingdom before we entered Fremmevilla.

**!=-{+}-=!**

We landed on the border between Zealand and Montana, with what remained of Zealand's military being taken care of by Montana's military.

"Look, that's the royal guard armour for Montana's King isn't it?" Felix pointed out.

Sure enough, I saw a group of Montana's Royal Guards standing around near our landing zone.

"Well, they are the most elite soldiers Montana has," I said.

We disembarked and walked over to where the Royal Guards were posted.

"Excuse me, this is a war zone. You two shouldn't be here," one of the older guards said when he saw us.

"A lot of places on Earth don't know us, I guess Montana is one of them," sighed Felix.

"We were sent by Queen Sonia Borne of the Qeios Empire to aid Zealand in retaking their country. Which in-turn means defending Montana, Medicia and United Medoua," I stated.

"Qeios, I should have known. They think we can't defend ourselves and need help from a couple of kids? This is an insult to the King's soldiers," the guard retorted.

"You may call us kids as much as you like, I have no interest in starting an argument with the likes of you," I simply said.

That seemed to piss him off, but I wasn't paying attention. I could sense something. Or rather; a lack thereof.

Something without a presence in the Force.

_And there's only one thing here that doesn't have a presence in the Force. The Yuuzhan Vong._

I Force blasted the guards out of the way as the tent behind them was torn down and a small group of Yuuzhan Vong came charging at us.

Felix and I both ignited our sabres and cut up the first few Vong. I jumped around to avoid being hit by an enemy weapon and ended up between two enemies. Quickly, my second lightsabre was in-hand and I cut them both up.

I looked over to my side and saw that Felix had dealt with the rest.

"…Holy shit…" came a voice from behind us. I turned around and saw a young blond boy in trainee Royal Guard armour.

"Anakin Solo taught us how to sense the Yuuzhan Vong. It helps having friends who know stuff," I smiled at the young boy.

"That's…not what I mean," he said.

I suddenly realised what he had just said.

_Shit…that's not a swear word in this galaxy that anyone aside from people from the Wake use._

"You're from the Wake, aren't you?" I questioned.

"Yeah. And you're Black Rock Shooter, aren't you," he stated.

I froze.

_No way…_

"E…Echo…?" I stuttered.

"Mhm. But uh, the fuck is up with your legs?" Echo asked.

"Oh, uh… Remember when Kiaht mentioned that I did dangerous stuff? Well, as you can tell, I'm a Jedi. I lost my legs four years ago after a Sith cut them off," I explained.

"Yeesh. Doesn't this universe have proper prosthetics? Can't you just get normal legs again?" he once again questioned.

I looked to Felix.

"To be fair, it's about time you go back to your normal legs. Those things have served you well, but it's not like you've been using them like you did against Luke," he said.

"I guess. Alright, when we can, we'll do that," I smiled.

Echo looked at Felix curiously, as if trying to figure something out.

"Wait, you're Natsuki, aren't you?" he figured.

Felix nodded. "That's right mate."

We both looked back towards Zealand's border.

"There's more coming," I said.

"Yep. How about we send some Y-3s over there," Felix suggested.

I jumped back to the _Night Fury_, sat in the cockpit and ordered the droids to attack any Yuuzhan Vong coming from Zealand. Sure enough, the droids flew overhead.

"Damn, you guys got all the tech," came Echo's voice from the doorway.

"That's Qeios for ya," smirked Felix.

Now I actually got a good look at Echo, I could tell he was completely different to his avatar in GGO. Firstly, he was shorter. And no, I'm not saying that because I'm 6"0 in the Sleep, he's genuinely shorter. He didn't seem as rugged, and instead of neat white hair he had messy yellowish-blond hair. Though part of it was held back in a hair-band. His eyes were more cerulean than bright blue, and he looked a hell of a lot younger. He definitely didn't have the look of a warrior.

The _Night Fury_ beeped, alerting us to an incoming transmission. I accepted it and Sonia's hologram appeared on the console.

"_Night Fury_, Qeios and Arendelle have brought back enough forces to go head-on against all the known Yuuzhan Vong attackers. Just hold out there a short while and we'll send reinforcements," she said.

"Actually, I think the Y-3 Droids have taken out most of the Vong here. Still, send some reinforcements. I couldn't care less that the Montana Royal Guard don't want help from Qeios. How's the battles on our borders?"

"We've pushed the Vong out of Dunbroch down South, and forced them back into Gorgonroth on the East. They're trapped between our forces, Allona, Narnia, Volskaya and Zaloudek. It shouldn't take long to eliminate them. As for Arendelle, some Yuuzhan Vong tried to attack directly but were warded off by Jane, Elsa and the twins," Sonia smiled.

"Alright, at least our home kingdoms are safe. Let's get them off our planet," I smirked.

"Calm down, you've been fighting non-stop almost all year. Go back to Arendelle and take a break. You've earnt it," laughed Sonia.

"Fiiinnnneee," I sighed, pretending to sound annoyed. In reality, I was relieved at the offer. I could go all out in a battle for at least 3 hours straight, so basic fights against the Vong weren't so bad. But, as Sonia had said, I hadn't taken a break all year. Even last year I had been going at it for months at a time since the war began.

Sonia giggled and ended the transmission.

"Wasn't that the Queen of Qeios?" Echo questioned. I simply nodded. "Wait, and you act so casual around your Queen?!"

"If you want to get technical, we live on the Arendelle side of Ardia. Meaning Jane is our acting Queen for the moment. But yeah, Sonia and Jane are our friends in the Wake. So they really don't give a shit about how we act," I told him.

"Whoa…"

"Well, looks like the Qeios Empire has arrived," said Felix, pointing to a rather regal-looking Qeian _Dawn II_-class Star Destroyer coming down. "We should head back to Arendelle. I'm sure Savara and Tarev are eager to see us again."

"Savara…wasn't she from team FAACKS?"

"That was a different Savara, my mother actually. Actually, Savara and Tarev are Savaage and Kiaht. And I guess, while we're on the subject, you've seen Sonaitha and Ardelia on MMOStream, right? That's Sonia and Jane, the Queens of Qeios and Arendelle. Though, as I said before, Jane's only an acting Queen at the moment. She'll probably go to Qeios once the twins take over. They haven't been online recently because they've temporarily locked themselves into this realm since the threat to Earth began," I smirked.

Echo seemed to be pretty shocked. "Damn, Rock. Didn't realise you had friends like that."

"Heh, I'm also best friends with the current Queen of Zaloudek, Amea Nerriss. Though she's not from the Wake," I laughed.

Echo just seemed to be frozen.

"Well, you should get back to your job. Here, if you need help at all, just contact the _Night Fury_ on that frequency," I said, tossing him a chip.

"Right…well, thanks Rock! Thanks Natsuki!" he smiled, before leaving the shuttle. We took off and headed back to Arendelle.

"Never expected to run into Echo," Felix laughed.

"Neither."

_**Felix Calnore's POV:**_

No less than a few days later, and the Yuuzhan Vong had been forced off the planet. We figured they'd be pretty annoyed, since they'd never been forced out of a system as quickly as they had here.

While we were resting in Arendelle, Stella had agreed to finally get rid of her beskar legs in favour of proper prosthetics. Now she was back to the adorable yet tough 5"4 girl we all knew and loved.

As for the left over beskar, Stella had given it to me to make into armour. So now I had a beskar chest-plate and bracers.

We were currently on the _Scarlet Eviscerator_, preparing the ship for another battle against the Yuuzhan Vong in some other star system. The _Night Fury_ was getting its upgraded QE X-94 cannons, along with the newest version of the QE Heavy Turbolaser cannons.

Stella's commlink began beeping, and I noticed it was a redirected transmission from the _Night Fury_'s A.I.

"Khai here," she answered.

"Rock, I'm sorry for calling out of the blue but we have a problem. It's not Yuuzhan Vong, I think it's a human. But they look oddly like you. They've got a hostage and are asking for the leader of some group called the Sleeping Knights, though I've never heard of them," came the voice of Echo.

"Alright, I'll be down there soon," she replied, and ended the transmission. "Gyah, alright. Guess I gotta deal with whatever this is. Shouldn't be a problem, you can stay here."

"Alright, just be careful Stel," I warned. She smiled and kissed me, before taking her HH-87 Starhopper down to the planet.

_I sense something bad's about to happen…perhaps I should have gone with her…_

I groaned.

_Stay out of trouble, Stel._

_**Sector 2: The White Reaper**_

_**Stella Khai's POV:**_

I landed in Montana, near where Echo's transmission had come from, and got out of my fighter.

"Rock!" called a voice. I turned around and saw the boy I was looking for.

"Echo, what's the situation," I ordered. He faltered at the tone of my voice but regained his composure quickly.

"She calls herself Estella Noral. She keeps asking for the leader of the Sleeping Knights, do you know who that is?" he asked.

"I'm the leader of the Sleeping Knights. You mentioned a hostage, have you identified them?"

"Negative, all I know is she has blue hair and red eyes," he explained.

_Blue hair…red eyes…_

I mentally started panicking.

_Lara!_

"Take me to this Estella," I commanded.

Echo nodded, and quickly led me to a small village.

Sure enough, in the middle was a pale girl with white hair and pink eyes. She looked nearly identical to me aside from the colour difference.

And at her feet, bounded by chains that I could tell prevented any connection to the Force, was Lara. She looked like she had been through a lot of abuse as well. Anger welled up inside me at the sight, but I forced it down.

"Stay here," I told Echo. I jumped down and landed in front of the white girl.

"You…look like me…You must be the girl…" Estella mumbled when she saw me.

"Now, are you going to tell me why you have my cousin tied up? Or do I have to beat it out of you," I sneered.

The girl looked down at Lara, who seemed to be unconscious.

"So that's why…I was drawn to her…Interesting," she seemed to figure out something.

"Oi. Look at me. Now, tell me; who the hell are you?" I demanded.

Estella looked right into my eyes, her pink eyes seeming to begin glowing like mine probably already were, though she kept a completely emotionless look on her face.

"I am Estella Noral…I was created by a Master of something…I don't recall her much, I disposed of her soon after…I do know I was created from the DNA of someone who looks like me," she stated.

…_DNA of someone who looks like her? No way…is she…a clone of me?! She was created by a Master of something…huh? Her last name is Noral…? As in, Jedi Master Noral? She vanished four years ago after we dealt with Luke…so the timing makes sense…but why would she do something like this?_

"So you're a clone of me," I slowly said.

"I suppose…"

"Okay then…do you know why you were created?" I asked.

"I'm…not sure…I only know one thing for sure…" she thought aloud.

"And what's that?"

"That…I need to eliminate the Sleeping Knights…they're not natural…"

A light surprise came over me.

"I'm sure we can get around this without fighting," I said.

Estella's gaze dropped from me back down to Lara.

"I don't think so…"

Suddenly, a giant white and pink scythe appeared from a pink flame. The blade moved in a flash down to Lara's neck before I could even react. But…it never hit.

Between the pink blade of the scythe and Lara's neck was a golden sword. Holding the medieval-looking blade was none other than Echo.

"I'm not entirely sure what's going on here, but no way am I letting you hurt Black Rock Shooter or her friends," he growled.

I was quite shocked at his courage, but if this girl really was a clone of me, he wouldn't last.

Sure enough, the scythe was expertly flipped around and sent Echo flying. He hit the ground, hard, and I could see he was completely dazed from the impact.

"Black Rock Shooter…interesting…then perhaps I'm White Rock Shooter…yes…I like that…okay then…" Estella spoke, more to herself than anything.

_Just her speech alone creeps me out, combine with her emotionless expression, she's like a Grim Reaper at this point!_

I ignited my blue sabre and charged at Estella. The blade hit the handle of the scythe but didn't cut it. I did push her back a little with how hard I hit though.

Estella moved the scythe around again and pushed me back. The blade of the scythe came down at me and I used my sabre to block it.

But the blue light shattered.

The kyber crystal inside my lightsabre was destroyed.

I jumped back to avoid the scythe and looked down at the now useless lightsabre.

_Kriff…_

I grabbed my red blade, hoping the artificial crystal would be able to survive. I rushed at Estella again, and once more she hit the sabre with her scythe. As before, the light cut out and the crystal shattered within the hilt.

"What the hell…?" I breathed, stunned.

The scythe came at me again, but was once again blocked by a gold blade.

"Echo, can your sword stop a lightsabre?" I questioned.

"Yeah, it's designed to be indestructible," he said.

_That explains why the scythe isn't breaking it._

Echo was slowly being forced back by Estella.

"Rock…hhnnnggg…I can't hold this," he grunted.

_Well, there's no other option. Please work, I beg of you…_

Just as Echo was about to be overpowered again, I sent a massive blast of power towards Estella. She was sent flying back into a building.

"Shaun!" came the voice of a girl. I looked behind us and saw a girl that looked similar to Echo who was also wearing Royal Guard trainee armour.

I looked to the boy.

"Echo, this is my fight. Stand back now," I told him.

"But Rock! You're weapon-less!" he said. I simply smiled.

"Am I?"

I reached out and concentrated.

_Please…_

Finally!

A blue flame gave way to the same black sword I had used to defeat Deathbringer in my mind four years ago.

My left eye ignited in a bright blue flame.

"Whoa…" I heard both Echo and the girl say behind me.

Estella came walking out of the dust and rubble as if nothing had happened to her, though now her right eye was ignited in a bright pink flame.

I used the Force and moved Lara off to the side, where Echo and the new girl immediately ran over to make sure she was okay.

With nothing else in our way, I knew I could go all out.

I began a dash towards Estella, which quickly gained speed until I caused a sonic boom right as my Black Blade clashed with her White Scythe, causing damage to the ground around us. I slashed at her multiple times, though she kept blocking with the scythe before forcing me back and nearly cutting me up with it. I used the Force to keep the weapon from hitting me whenever it got at an awkward angle.

The problem was…

Anytime I could get my blade close to her, it wouldn't hit either. Which meant she was doing the same thing as me.

_So she does have the Force._

I wasn't getting anywhere at this rate.

_I'll just have to move faster._

I swung at her again and again, dashing around in a blur.

But she kept up.

I got hit by the handle of the scythe, which stopped me. And now it was her turn to dash around. At first, I struggled to keep up. But I calmed myself and found that she was predictable.

So, I struck where I guessed she was about to be.

Estella stopped, a large cut across her chest.

_Oops…didn't mean to cut her bikini off…please don't be looking over here, Echo._

However, as quickly as the cut was made, it healed.

_Right. I'm basically a superhuman. Fuck._

"Um…" I stood awkwardly.

Estella glanced down at her chest, and pulled her _very small_ white jacket over it when she realised what I was talking about.

Turns out the first emotion I ever saw on her face was embarrassment.

She quickly dashed away, and I saw a white and pink HH-87 Starhopper take off.

_I really hope Echo didn't see that…she's a clone of me so if he saw that it's basically the same as seeing me naked…_

I looked back to where Echo and the other girl had been taking care of Lara and breathed a sigh of relief as I saw he was tending to Lara's wounds rather than looking over here.

My eye flame went out and the sword vanished in another puff of blue flame.

I walked over to the three onlookers.

"How's Lara going?" I asked.

"She seems fine, though she's not waking," the girl said.

"That just means she's in the Wake," I reminded.

"Lara…she's Laria, right?" Echo noted. I sighed and nodded.

"You're pretty attentive, Echo," I smiled.

I noticed the girl trying to stifle a giggle.

"Really Rayna?" Echo groaned.

"I'm sorry, but really? Echo? I knew you were a lost cause, Shaun, but damn," she laughed.

_Shaun, huh?_

"I'm guessing you two are twins. You have a strong bond in the Force. Plus, you look nearly identical," I noted.

"Yeah, this is my younger twin, Rayna. And I guess now you know my name. I'm Shaun," he said.

"Alright, well. You've proven handy here. And I think Lara would want to thank you for patching her up. I know I would like to thank you for that. I had felt something in the Force due to my blood connection to her, but I assumed she had been injured by the Yuuzhan Vong," I explained.

"Blood? You're related to her?" Shaun questioned.

_Ever the curious boy, isn't he?_

"She's my cousin, so yes," I nodded. "Anyway, we may need your help again. Estella's scythe can shatter a kyber crystal, so your swords are the only thing we can use aside from my Black Blade. If it's okay with you, I would like to formally request your aid on defeating Estella."

The twins looked at me, then at each other.

"Does that mean we get to go on a space ship?" Shaun asked. I just laughed and nodded.

"Mhm. You'll be coming with Felix and me on the _Scarlet Eviscerator_, one of the most powerful warships in the galaxy," I stated.

"Well…I'm up for it," Rayna nodded.

I looked to Shaun.

"Are you kidding?! Fuck yeah!" he eagerly said.

_Why do I get the feeling this kid is a huge nerd who never leaves his room in the real world? I don't have a problem with the nerd part…but…_

"_Night Fury_, this is Khai, Stella. I need a pickup," I said into my commlink.

I saw Shaun about to say something.

"Yes. My name is Stella. Now you know," I quickly interjected.

Rayna just stifled laughter at her brother's reaction.

"_Night Fury_ setting course for your location…ETA: 1 minute," came a robotic reply over the commlink.

"So cool…" I heard Shaun whisper.

"Dork," teased Rayna.

_Yeah, he's a nerd._

Shortly, the shuttle landed in the clearing and we carried Lara onboard. I helped Rayna to put her on my bed, before going to the cockpit and taking off.

Shaun and Rayna soon joined me in the cockpit as we exited the atmosphere.

"Whoa…Is that the _Scarlet Eviscerator_?" Shaun asked, awestruck by the 5km-long Dreadnaught in front of us.

"Yep. That's the _Eviscerator_. Used to be the _Furious Destroyer_, but it was heavily damaged in a maelstrom. Qeios Shipyards fixed it up, modernised its tech and we gave it a new name," I smirked.

"It's huge!" exclaimed Rayna.

"That's what most people say when they see it. But then we go fight a Yuuzhan Vong worldship which is well over twenty times bigger," I sighed.

We landed in a hangar and got some medical officers to take Lara to the med-bay.

"Seeing as Lara is here when she should be with Lyla halfway around the galaxy, and on top of that she's heavily injured, I assume something went wrong," sighed Felix as we exited the shuttle.

"Four years ago, when I lost my legs, Jedi Master Noral went missing. Turns out she made a clone of me using my severed legs and now that clone wants to eliminate the Sleeping Knights," I explained.

"You beat my arse four years ago, and Rika and Lara didn't stand a chance against you either. Now we have to fight a clone of you?" he groaned.

"It gets worse. She's using a special scythe," I tossed my two lightsabres to Felix. "Those are useless against her. She can just shatter the kyber crystal."

Felix opened up both sabres, and the shattered crystals fell out in a million pieces each.

"The swords used by the Montana Royal Guard can hold out against it, so I suggest you get one of those. As for me, I've got the blade I used to defeat Deathbringer," I stated.

"Very well. We'll have to alert the other Knights immediately," he said. I nodded. "This is the worst possible timing for something like this…"

Of course, Shaun looked like he was questioning Felix's comment about me beating them, or perhaps it was the mention of Deathbringer, but I brushed it off for now.

_**Lyla Klal's POV:**_

I came out of hyperspace over Vandelhelm, now alone on the _Kesh Wanderer_.

During our battle against the Yuuzhan Vong on Kinyen, we had run into someone who looked eerily similar to Stella. She had knocked me unconscious after breaking my lightsabre with a scythe. When I had awoken, both her and Lara were gone. I had immediately checked where the next nearest duo of Sleeping Knights were and was relieved to find Cierra and Sally were not far away on Vandelhelm.

"Cierra, Sally, this is the _Kesh Wanderer_, come in," I said through the comms.

"Lyla, this is Cierra. We've pushed the Yuuzhan Vong back for now so you're safe to land," came Cierra's response.

I flew to their location and landed.

"Where's Lara?" Sally asked when I exited the ship.

"As far as I know, she was kidnapped. I haven't heard anything from Stella, so I assume she's still alive, but I'm not sure where," I explained.

Cierra immediately got her commlink.

"Stella, come in."

…

No response.

"Signal's being jammed," Cierra confirmed.

"Yuuzhan Vong?" I questioned.

"Unlikely," Sally answered.

I saw another ship landing not far away, and instantly recognised it.

"Crap, it's her! The girl who kidnapped Lara," I said, pointing at the fighter.

Sure enough, the same girl as before got out and came towards us.

"Who are you?" demanded Cierra.

"Who am I…it doesn't really matter…but…I'm White Rock Shooter…" the girl answered in a monotonous voice.

Cierra and Sally looked at each other. I just look at them, confused.

"In our realm, Stella plays online games and goes by Black Rock Shooter. And this girl looks identical to Stella, except her colouring," Sally explained.

"Well, I don't think she's friendly if she kidnapped Lara. So, let's defeat her," Cierra said.

Cierra's purple blade ignited at the same time as Sally's green-bladed staff. I tried to ignite mine, but remembered the crystal had been completely shattered by White Rock Shooter's scythe.

"Cierra! Wait! Her scythe destroys lightsabres!" I tried to warn.

It was too late.

Cierra had charged forward and swung at the small girl. Sally and I were unable to do anything as the pink blade of the scythe went right through the lightsabre, destroying it. Not expecting the power of the scythe, Cierra was unable to move in time.

The scythe's blade cut straight through Cierra's body, and she fell to the ground in two pieces.

"MUM!" screamed Sally, almost rushing forward before I held her back. "Let go!" she squirmed.

"Sally, we can't fight her. Our sabres do nothing," I told her.

"She killed my mum!" she continued to scream, tears flowing down her face.

_You're supposed to be a 20-year-old damnit! Have some sense girl!_

"Sally, getting yourself killed won't bring her back. Live to fight," I said.

The young girl turned to me, eyes red from the crying.

"If we're going to win this, we're going to need Stella. So let's go back to Earth," I calmly explained.

She hesitantly nodded.

I looked up towards White Rock Shooter, who was walking towards us.

_Not today._

I Force blasted her back and pulled Sally into the _Kesh Wanderer_, taking off quickly and leaving Vandelhelm.

I noticed Sally sit at one of the computers and bring up the Sleeping Knights' communication channel.

"Attention Sleeping Knights. Cierra Skywalker is dead, she was killed by someone calling herself 'White Rock Shooter.' If you see White Rock Shooter, do not engage. Lightsabres are useless against her," she said, trying to fight the tears away.

A few moments passed.

"I'm so sorry, Sally…I shouldn't have let Estella get away when I had the chance," came Stella's voice.

_So Stella was able to fight her…_

_**Stella Khai's POV:**_

"Stella, I've got something for you," came Felix's voice. Both Shaun and I turned around as he entered the room.

"We've also got a problem," I sighed.

Felix looked at me curiously.

"It's Cierra. My clone killed her."

"…Oh…in all our time fighting the Yuuzhan Vong, we've never lost a Knight. This clone comes out of nowhere and already we've lost our most experienced member."

I nodded.

"She's as powerful as I am, and that scythe is causing a problem. So…I want to deal with her on my own. I don't want to risk any of you guys in this, so Estella is my fight. I'll let the others know soon. The thing with Estella is…she's got all my powers, but she's 4-years-old. I'm 27, I'm far more experienced than she is. If anyone can beat her, it's going to be me," I told him.

Both Felix and Shaun looked at me in shock.

"Stel, you know I can't let you do that," Felix said.

"She's already killed one of your team! You really sure going at her alone is the best option?" questioned Shaun.

"Yes. I've been able to unlock the power I used against Deathbringer, and I'm already a demi-human. As you said, Felix, last time you fought me you almost died, and I was using my Jedi powers moreso than my actual powers," I explained.

"Well…okay, but at least let us be backup," Felix sighed.

Shaun glanced at him.

"Us? Wait, I get to help?!" he said excitedly.

"Shaun, this won't be like in GGO. This is an actual life and death situation. We're not forcing you to join us," I told him, figuring I'd just accept Felix's help at this point because he wasn't going to give up.

"I'm a part of the Montana Royal Guard, my job is life threatening," he stated.

"Not as dangerous as this will be," I reminded him.

"I don't care, if I can help Black Rock Shooter, I'm happy to do it."

I looked to Felix who just shrugged.

"If he's willing. If he's not up to the task he'll probably realise it pretty quickly," he said.

I just sighed.

"Alright, I'll let you two help me. Now, you said you had something to show me?"

Felix smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, follow me," he said.

**!=-{+}-=!**

"Remember that old PlayStation 2 game you played, Black Rock Shooter THE GAME?" Felix questioned. I nodded, BRS had been the character that I had decided to use the name of since it's old enough that most people these days didn't know much about it. Probably helped by the fact that it wasn't entirely the most popular thing around at its time, but even so…

"Well, you recall she had that VTOL called the _Brunhilde_?" I once again nodded. Felix opened the doors to one of the production hangars on the _Scarlet Eviscerator_.

And in the middle of the hangar was the _Brunhilde_. Or rather, a Starfighter that looked like it.

"The _Brunhilde_, a custom fighter built specifically for you. Had some help from Qeios Shipyards, it's modelled after the original one in the game but is built as a Starfighter rather than an atmospheric gunship. Much like the original, it's fitted with 12 missiles arranged in 4 groups of 3 along the wings and has an 8-barrled machine gun variant of the QE X-94 Heavy Piercing-Cannon situated under the cockpit. It has a modified version of the _Night Fury_'s A.I. and as such can fly without a pilot. Technically, it's a 2-seater, but you can fly it alone," Felix explained.

I circled around the fighter. It was about 14-metres in length, so just a bit shorter than Felix's but longer than the standard X-Wing, and roughly double the length of our HH-87 Starhoppers. Width-wise, it was about the same at its widest point at the back due to its triangle-like shape. It was done up in a sleek black and silver livery.

"Top speed in atmosphere?" I quizzed.

"About 3,500 km/h. It's got a class 0.5 Hyperdrive too," he smirked.

"3500? Damn, that's almost doubled the _Night Fury_'s speed. I'm impressed," I nodded.

"Well, even if the others aren't joining us, we should gather them and let them know what's going on," Felix suggested.

I agreed, and we told all the Sleeping Knights to meet us over Earth.

_**Shaun Bailey's POV:**_

**Real World (Wake)**

I yawned as I woke up and checked my clock. It was 3:08 PM. Fairly normal for me…

Though I suspected my family would be wondering why Rayna woke up so late.

_Then again, mother probably knows we left Montana in the Dream. Good thing Rayna doesn't have work today…_

I had my breakfast and got back to my computer about an hour later to see a message from Black Rock Shooter.

I opened the message as I sat down.

'_Echo, this situation just became a lot more dangerous. When Cierra was killed by my clone in the Sleep, she died in the Wake too. I went back over my parents' records and it mentioned back in 2014 they fought something called a 'KillSim,' which could kill both bodies just from killing someone in the Sleep. I think Master Noral replicated that tech for Estella's weapon. If White Rock Shooter kills you…you'll die here as well… You don't have to fight if you don't want to. Felix will still be with me._'

I froze up a little.

_One of Rock's friends…actually died? If I get killed, I'm gone. Eh, not like this life's given me much anyway._

I sent a quick reply confirming I was still up to the challenge.

_I may as well do something in my life._

"Shaun?" a knock sounded on my door.

"It's unlocked, Rayna," I called.

My twin sister opened the door and sat on my bed

"I don't normally ask about your online life, but are you really sure about this Stella girl? Heck, how'd you even meet her?" Rayna asked curiously.

"You worry too much, sis. Rock is badass but she's kind. I met her in January in GGO. I tend to play on the Japanese server because the Americans are usually assholes, though I guess I'd get a much better connection to them…they are hosted only about 400 miles away…whatever, not the subject. Rock and I were part of a raid party going into the _SBC Flügel__ in Gun Gale. We were separated from the group in a trap room which was way too high a level for me, since I was only Prestige 1 level 76 making me the lowest level in the party. I hadn't realised it at the time, but she was about Prestige 4 level 189. Heck, she could probably clear the __SBC Flügel__ alone if the game didn't set its difficulty to the average level of the party. She got us out of the trap room, and we've been going on hunts together ever since. In-fact, we won Squad Jam just yesterday," I told my younger sister._

"Huh, that would explain why she clearly isn't American," she thought aloud.

"Oh yeah, she's an Aussie," I smirked.

Rayna just rolled her eyes. "Of course a Weeb like you would be playing on Japanese servers though," she giggled.

"Hey, I am not a Weeb. I am an Otaku, thank you very much," I pouted.

"Dork."

We sat in silence for a few moments, before I remembered the message.

"Hey, Rayna? When we go back to the Dream, you should go back to Montana. I don't want to put you in danger," I said.

"Seriously, bro? Now you're getting protective?" she groaned.

"This clone has already killed one of Rock's friends, I don't want her to kill you too," I admitted.

"And you expect me to just let you go after her with these two Aussies who, might I remind you, are from Arendelle and Qeios in the Dream! Two places that Montana has never really had a very good relationship with!" she complained.

"Rayna, I know there's been a mixed past between the kingdoms. Hell, I know more than you! I bet you didn't know mother's boyfriend in the Dream was killed by Qeios Guardians during the Clone Wars. But that's in the past, now the kingdoms have been united against the Yuuzhan Vong. And plus, Rock's my friend. I'm not going to let her face this alone," I countered.

"Still doesn't mean I'm letting you go alone. Besides, if I die it's only in that world," she stated.

_Ugh…do I tell her that she'd die in the Real World? She might not admit it, but I'm a better fighter than her in the Dream because of my experience in VRMMOs. I was barely able to hold my ground, Rayna will be killed way faster…_

"Rayna…" I cleared my throat and decided on what I was going to say. "Even if it's only there, I can't lose you. I will protect you to the end, and I think you already know that."

_No need to scare her with what Rock told me…_

Rayna looked at me with tears in her eyes.

"…F-Fine…I'll go back to Montana…just…stay alive, dummy," she stuttered.

"I'll be okay, sis," I smiled. I sat next to her on the bed and hugged her. "You should focus on your training."

"You know mom's gonna give you an earful if she finds out," Rayna sighed.

"Mhm, better me than both of us. Still, could you please not tell her?" I said.

Rayna managed a smile and nodded.

"Alright, I'll let you get away with this one," she teased.

_Now to make sure I don't die…_

I spent the rest of the day on the computer. Rayna somehow managed to fall asleep at her normal time of 8 PM despite waking up at 3.

And like usual, I fell asleep at about 3 AM.

**Dream (Sleep)**

When I woke up, I had to do a double take before I remembered I was on the _Scarlet Eviscerator_. The ship's crew quarters were far more luxurious than the Guards' Barracks back in Montana. Or, for that matter, the house we had outside the capital.

I quickly had a hot sanisteam; something I was not used to in this world as we always had to deal with luke-warm sanisteams in the Barracks.

When I went to grab my Royal Guard armour, I noticed another set of clothing next to it with a note.

"Technically, you're not allowed to wear your Guard armour on unofficial business like this. Take this, it's all we could find for you on such short notice, but I reckon it suits you. Besides, for this mission you'll be working as a Sleeping Knight. Don't think the King of Montana would be too happy with his Royal Guards' uniform being associated with us. You can still use the sword though! -Stella," I read aloud.

The outfit consisted of a white, yellow and blue overcoat with a dark grey hood, a white and black shirt, a yellow tie, blue shorts, light blue leggings with white, gold and blue boots.

_I'm a Sleeping Knight, huh? Even if it's only temporary, I like the sound of it. _

I put on the outfit and looked in the mirror.

"Heh, it kinda does suit me," I smirked.

I left my room to find Stella chatting with Felix down the hall.

"What'd I miss?" I asked.

The two turned to me.

"Guessing you're still gonna be fighting with us. I assumed you had changed your mind when Rayna requested a ship to get back to Montana," Stella said.

"Yep. I told Rayna to go back since she's not as good as I am when it comes to fighting," I nodded.

I assumed Rayna had left her sword behind, as I noticed her sword and sheath on Felix's belt.

"Alright. Well, Lyla and Sally have arrived, and I believe Matt and Rika just entered the system. Lara's awake too. Tarev and Savara have been called up from the planet while Jane and Sonia are staying behind to run their kingdoms. I've already told them about the situation, so they know to call us if Estella shows up."

"What will they be doing if they're not helping us?" I asked.

"We're gonna let them know the situation, then they have their own mission. The _Errant Venture_ is currently in danger, and that's where the Jedi Younglings from Yavin are. The Sleeping Knights' mission is to guard them as they head to Shelter, in The Maw," Stella explained, though I noticed her and Felix's reactions to what she had said indicating the Knights' mission may not quite be what she was telling me. I didn't push it though, since it wasn't my business.

"Well, we've got some time until Matt, Rika and the twins get here, so why don't I make sure Shaun can handle that blade of his. Plus, I gotta practise with this thing too. I'm not used to it, it's quite different to the katana I train with," Felix commented.

Stella nodded. "Sounds good. I want to check on Lara too, so you two go get to work."

I nodded, and we split up with me following Felix to an empty hangar.

_**Sector 3: Crimson Darkness**_

_**Stella Khai's POV:**_

I quietly knocked on the door to the medical bay of the _Scarlet Eviscerator_, grabbing Lara's attention.

"Heh, I guess I ain't that strong this time," the young blue-haired girl managed a weak chuckle.

"Not necessarily. It's just, the enemy was stronger," I smiled.

Getting a look at my cousin, I saw she was still bruised and scratched, though had been patched up with bandages. Her left leg was in a cast, indicating she had broken it in her fight with Estella.

"You need to rest. As the leader of the Sleeping Knights, and as your cousin, I'm gonna exclude you from the Knights' mission until you recover," I told her.

Lara just sighed. "I suppose that's my only option now. Though, I would have liked to get that girl back for what she did."

I sat on the bed next to her, gently caressing her cheek, brushing her hair back. She winced slightly when I touched a bruise, but relaxed when I used my powers to help ease the pain.

"Felix, Echo and I are going after Estella alone. I'm giving the rest of the Knights a different mission. They'll be here shortly, so I'll explain it more then. Felix and I just had to make sure Echo was occupied so he wouldn't hear the Knights' true mission…" I sighed.

"So, I guess that means we're going dark for this mission," Lara figured. I simply nodded.

"The New Order should never have existed in the first place, the Force is out of whack and we need to put it back in place before things get worse," I explained. "However…I now know the Order isn't the side that's over weighing the balance. It'll be our job to find the other side and thin them out."

Lara thought about the information for a moment. "Is Kesh not where we will find what we're looking for?" she questioned.

"Kesh is one, but I believe there to be more. Until we find the rest, we leave Kesh as it is."

"And we're not working with the Order to find the rest?"

"Unfortunately, the Order is already heading down a dark path. I fear if we stay with them, our actions will become limited. We've already had disagreements with their rules. They are much better than the old Order but…" I sighed.

What we had to do may be considered to be dark, but after conversing with a certain Jedi Master of old, I knew we had little choice.

"Though the main reason is to save the Younglings. They're in danger, we can't let them get to Shelter,"

Before Lara could reply, I heard Matt's voice and got up as he rushed to Lara's side.

Rika, Savara, Tarev, Sally and Lyla walked in behind him.

"Good to see you alive, Lara," Lyla smiled.

Lara laughed and grinned at her companion. "I ain't going down that easily, Lyla."

I noticed Lyla brush her fingers over the pendant around her neck. It was obvious she had grown protective over my cousin, and didn't want to lose her like she had lost the person whose pendant she was wearing.

_I still feel pretty guilty for killing Savara…_

"Where's Felix?" asked Rika.

"He already knows what I'm about to tell you guys. He's keeping a friend of ours occupied while I fill you all in," I told her.

I looked towards Sally, and knew she was on the edge of falling to the Dark Side after witnessing her mother's death.

_And she's a Skywalker. Normally I'd tell her to stay behind but, in her case, I think it'll be best if she uses the mission to clear her mind._

"You gonna be okay, Sally?" I asked anyway.

She rubbed the tears from her eyes and gave me a weak smile that anyone could tell was forced. "Yeah, I can do it," she said.

I sighed and faced the whole team.

"Firstly, you're probably wondering about the person who killed Cierra, and put Lara in this state. Her name is Estella Noral. Created four years ago by former Jedi Master, Elisa Noral, she is a clone of me. Because of this, she is far too powerful for any of you to fight. Lightsabres are useless against her, as Lyla, Lara and Sally have already found out. We have few weapons that will work against her. Felix and a member of the Montana Royal Guard who has joined us have those weapons, and I have my own from my fight with Deathbringer. For these reasons, the three of us will be fighting Estella alone," I explained.

Before I could continue, predictably, there was unrest from the Knights.

"Stel, are you entirely sure you want to do this alone?" Savara asked.

"Yes. I can't risk you guys in this fight. I will ask you to alert me if Estella shows up near you. However, you lot will be doing your own mission. Recently, I was able to talk with Jedi Master Yoda through the Force. He told me of the current unbalance, which I already knew of, however he alerted me to the fact that the Sith currently outnumber the Jedi. They always have, it's why Anakin Skywalker never truly succeeded as the Chosen One. That role was passed on to Luke Skywalker when he died, however it seems the Force has decreed Luke to have failed in his duty. So, the role was given to someone else. Yoda knows who, but he hasn't told me. What he has told me is that the Jedi have lost their way and we must begin our own journey. Now is the time to work separately to the Jedi. From now on we are no longer Jedi Knights, we are Grey Jedi. Or perhaps, you may prefer the name Je'daii. Either way, the Jedi Younglings onboard the _Errant Venture_ are in trouble, threats from both the Yuuzhan Vong, and something far, _far_ more dangerous than what anyone realises are coming for the Younglings. If they get to Shelter, they will be safe from the Vong, however that's when the other danger will be present. I've sensed that our parents know what the danger is, but they aren't telling us, or anyone. Your mission will be to protect the _Errant Venture_ from the Yuuzhan Vong, and take it to our world. They can sit in our solar system in the Wake until the war is over."

All seven of the Knights in front of me went over what I had just told them in their heads, trying to make sense of it. Finally, Tarev spoke up.

"So, we're leaving the Order and taking the Younglings away until it's safe. You know we won't get control of that ship without a fight, right?" he questioned.

I nodded. "I do not wish for you to kill any Jedi on this mission. So please take caution and be careful with your fights. Moreover, I suppose I should also add that if you receive a distress call from Earth, that will take priority. We may have annoyed the Vong so we need to be careful," I said.

Eventually, everyone nodded and agreed with the plan, even if they were a little hesitant. Sally moreso than the others, which I found interesting.

"One last thing. Lyla, I understand Estella broke your lightsabre. Probably time you switched away from red anyway," I smirked, tossing her a new lightsabre hilt.

"Sabre staff?" she questioned, igniting both sides of the blue staff.

"Yeah, you don't need to use both sides at all times though, so it still works with your form," I smiled.

Turning off one side of the staff, she smiled. "Thank you, Stella."

_**Shaun Bailey's POV:**_

I swung at Felix again after knocking his sword to the side, but he blocked with his beskar bracer, forced my blade to the side, and swung his back, stopping at my neck.

"Not too bad, I can tell you're fairly high up in your training at Montana. But even the Royal Guards are no match for a Jedi, so we'll be training you up a bit more here," he smirked.

"You're fucking strong, I'll give you that. But using lightsabre forms with a sword isn't all that effective. You're still better than me thanks to your strength and use of the Force, but you need to learn proper sword-play," I commented.

Felix seemed slightly surprised at my comment, but smiled.

"Indeed, it seems we both have much to learn from each other."

I smiled and nodded.

Suddenly, more people entered the hangar with Stella. Lara was also with them, though her left leg was in a cast and she was using crutches.

"Felix! You're safe!" smiled a girl with short brown hair. She ran up to Felix and he caught her in a hug.

"Hey Cuz, good to see you again too," he laughed.

"Oh? And who's this?" she asked, noticing me.

"Uh, I'm Shaun Bailey, from the Montana Royal Guard," I stammered.

"He's cute," I heard her whisper to Felix. I felt my face become hot and looked away.

"Now now Rika, you know how easy it is to embarrass nerds who never leave their room," I heard Felix teasingly whisper back.

The girl, Rika, giggled.

Meanwhile I suddenly found an old Qeian fighter in the corner to be incredibly interesting.

"He's the guard? That doesn't look like Montana armour," commented one of the others, who I guessed was the Prince of Arendelle just by looking at him.

"That's because, at the moment, he's one of us. A Sleeping Knight," Stella smirked, noticing my reaction to Rika.

"S-So, what next?" I asked.

"Sleeping Knights, take the _Scarlet Eviscerator_ and _Night Fury_ and track down the _Errant Venture_. Felix, prepare your fighter and move it into the same hangar as the _Brunhilde_. We'll be going with those two after Estella," Stella ordered.

"Wait, what about me?"

"You're with me in the _Brunhilde_, Shaun."

"Oh, okay. Cool," I smiled.

_**Sally Skywalker's POV:**_

_We're going against the Jedi…I have to tell him. I hope he won't flip because of it…ugh, guess I'll let him know once we get the _Errant Venture_, he might warn them otherwise._

I knew the person I was thinking of would most likely understand, and not warn the Jedi of our intentions, but as much as it pained me, I had to play it safe.

I sighed as Rika plotted a course past Barab I, Rinn and Aduba III to intercept the _Errant Venture_ before it reached The Maw.

"You okay, Sally?" came the voice of Matt, startling me.

"Oh, uh, y-yeah. I'm fine. Just a bit shaken up," I lied.

I wasn't fine. I mean, my mother had just been killed before my eyes and now we were betraying an Order that raised me.

_Worst Christmas ever._

"You don't sound it," he stated.

"I'll be fine, Matt. I just gotta meditate a bit," I said, leaving the bridge.

_What's even going on right now?_

**27 ABY; 2064 Earth Time**

A couple days later, after New Year's, we managed to greet the _Errant Venture_ in the Boz Pity system.

"Alright guys, prepare to board," ordered Sonia as we prepared the _Night Fury_ for take-off.

As we flew towards the Star Destroyer, the shields lowered with a simple confirmation of identity and we were able to land in the hangar bay area.

"They don't suspect a thing," smirked Tarev.

"No killing, remember that," reminded Jane.

"We know, not like we're gonna suddenly start killing Jedi," Savara acknowledged.

"We need to get to the bridge first, then we can get the ship to Earth and deal with the Jedi on-board," Sonia said.

Getting to the bridge shouldn't have been a problem, we hadn't raised any suspicion so far.

But something always has to go wrong, doesn't it?

I just didn't expect that thing to be me.

Now, before we go there, let me explain what's happened in the week between my mother dying and now.

Basically, it's been a tough week of withholding any emotions relating to mum's death. I had a nightmare the first night after the fight and decided to try to outlast those emotions.

Turns out I'm not strong enough to keep them all locked away…

I should also mention that, aside from Lyla's sabre the first time Stella gave it to her, I haven't been around an active lightsabre. Especially in a fight.

Now…back to the current moment.

On our way to the bridge, we passed a training room. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a fight.

I instantly recognised the long brown hair in a pony-tail as he jumped backwards to avoid the youngling's lightsabre.

And…

Something in my mind clicked.

Without even realising, I had ignited my sabre and dashed into the room, blocking the training blade with my own full-powered lightsabre. A quick Force blast and the kid was sent flying across the room.

"Sally!" yelled Rika.

I turned around and spotted a mirror off to the side.

Annnd of course, my normally blue eyes were bright yellow.

_Fuck…I fucked up…_

"Sally…" I slightly jumped when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

I slowly turned to face him, his bright aqua eyes filled with a look of worry and concern.

"…Connor…"

Unable to hold it any longer, I burst into tears and buried my face in his shirt.

"Connor, I'm so sorry," I sobbed.

He put his arms around me and held me tight, trying to comfort me.

"Hey, it's okay. It's been a stressful war, I don't expect it to be easy for any of us all the time," he said.

"No…that's not it…"

"Then what's wrong?"

"M-My mother…she's dead…"

Connor's arms tightened around me.

"Oh…I'm sorry darling, I hadn't heard…how long ago?" he gently questioned.

"A week…I should have told you, I'm sorry…"

He pulled back and looked at me. "You don't need to apologise for anything, I'm here now. But I think you need to take some time away from the fight, so why don't we go home for a bit? I don't have to stay here for much longer," he smiled.

"I'm…wait, can someone tell me what's going on here…?" came Savara's confused voice.

I wiped my eyes and turned to the Sleeping Knights.

"This is…Connor…Connor Holwil. He's my boyfriend," I admitted.

"Wh-What…?! Since when?!" yelled Rika.

"Well, we started dating a year ago,"

The Knights simply froze, surprised.

"C'mon, is it that surprising that I have a boyfriend?" I questioned.

"Uh, YE-MFPH" Savara was cut off by Matt's hand covering her mouth.

"Well, fuck you too," I said, attempting to sound hurt, though that failed when I began laughing.

"Huh, so insults relating to relationships bring people back from the Dark Side," Tarev stated jokingly.

I quickly glanced back at the mirror, and was relieved to see my eyes back to their normal blue.

It was then that Connor seemed to realise something.

"Aren't you all supposed to be split around the galaxy…?" he asked.

"Uhhhh, yeahhhh…about that…we're taking over the _Errant Venture_," Tarev said, before he and his sister began sprinting in the direction of the bridge.

Connor looked at me, confused.

"Well, yeah…explain later!" I said, deciding the twins' idea of sprinting was a pretty damn good one. And apparently so did the others.

"I'm not sure I'm ever going to understand you guys," Lyla sighed as she ran.

We soon reached the bridge, which of course was full of Jedi and other Officers.

"Sleeping Knights, what brings you out here?" asked a Jedi Knight.

"Reports of a traitor trying to corrupt the younglings, we're here to ensure the younglings' safety," Sonia covered.

"I was not informed of this?"

"Well, if we knew who the traitor was there would be no need for us to protect the younglings," Jane stated, secretly wondering how the Jedi put someone so stupid in charge of their future.

That comment seemed to make him pause.

"V-Very well, shall I gather the crew?" he questioned.

"Yeah, take them down to the hang-"

"I thought you said you were taking the ship?" came a young-sounding voice.

We all turned around to see one of the younglings from the training room, with Connor behind him.

"Hey, I came as soon as I realised he was missing," Connor defended, seeing everyone's suspicious looks.

Sonia just pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.

"Well THAT went well," she groaned.

The next moment, her darksabre was ignited and facing the Jedi from before. The rest of the Knights' weapons followed, including my sabre-staff.

"Wh-What?! You lot are the traitors?!" the Jedi exclaimed, surprised. At the same time, every other Jedi in the room ignited their sabres.

"Huh, guess there were traitors. Didn't even think about that," Jane commented.

"Neither did I… Wait that's not what we should be focusing on. Jedi, you lot are taking these younglings into danger. We plan to stop you," Sonia warned.

"I'm not sure what delusions you've been told, Your Majesty, but I assure you we are taking these younglings to a completely safe Shelter," the Jedi stated.

"Sorry to tell you but-"

*Beep* "Sleeping Knights, this is Rivatha Furai of Qeios. We have a Code Black emergency, repeat, we have a Code Black emergency. YVW's have entered the system, we need your aid."

We all froze, looking at each other.

"_Shit…_" cursed Rika.

Without saying anything, we rushed out of the room. I grabbed Connor's hand as I passed and dragged him along.

"YVW's?" he asked as we dashed through the Star Destroyer.

"Yuuzhan Vong Worldships," I answered.

"Well shit, they sent Worldships to Earth?"

"We kinda did force them off our planet super quickly, so they're probably pissed," Sonia replied.

"Also, aren't you from this realm?" Tarev questioned.

"Picked it up from Sally," Connor quickly responded, knowing exactly what Tarev was talking about.

"Huh, and here's me still thinking you're an innocent little kid," Savara laughed.

"Innocent? Clearly you haven't hung around her being drunk," Rika smirked.

"Drunk? Hasn't she like, turned down alcohol literally every time we've gone out?" Matt asked.

"Shut up! Not what's important right now!" I yelled as an announcement came over the PA system saying we were traitors.

"Jedi, 12'o'clock. I think we pissed them off too," Tarev smirked.

"You literally drew your weapons on the commander, of course they are," Connor quipped.

I once again ignited my sabre, pushing the Jedi's blades away and jumping over them, continuing to run towards the hangar.

"Rika, get the ship started," Lyla said when we arrived.

She nodded and rushed on-board with Sonia and Jane. Lyla, the twins and I stayed outside for a while to defend against the incoming Jedi.

"Engines are up, let's go," I yelled.

"Too many Jedi, Sal," Connor stated.

"Not for long," Lyla smirked. Next moment, a Force blast erupted from her and the Jedi were knocked backwards.

"And that's why we brought the trained ex-Sith along," smirked Savara as we all climbed the ramp.

The shuttle took off and we flew back to the _Scarlet Eviscerator_.

I crashed into Connor's lap in one of the comfy chairs in the back of the _Night Fury_.

"I'm so sorry, Connor…I didn't want you to get in trouble," I apologised, burying my face into his shirt.

"Why are you all doing this?" he asked.

"I'm…not sure I understand it completely, but from what I got from Stella's explanation, the Jedi and the Sith are as guilty as each other when it comes to the balance of the Force. My guess is there's two options; have an equal amount of Sith and Jedi, or have no Sith and Jedi. Of course, the second option is probably the easiest," Lyla explained.

"So, you're not becoming Sith," Connor inquired. I nodded in confirmation. "Well, in that case, Sal, you know I would have joined you when I found out anyway, so I don't really care if the Jedi now hate me," he smiled.

"Well good, because now you're going to have to help us fight the Vong off our home world," smirked Jane.

_**Stella Khai's POV:**_

We exited hyperspace over Naboo following reports of someone causing a bit of carnage, in the hopes that it might be Estella.

"Alright, we'll land near Theed, reports say there's a hideout where our criminal is staying. Just follow us, Felix," I said over the comms.

"Copy that, Stel," Felix replied.

"I hope you're ready for this, Shaun,"

I sensed Shaun shift uncomfortably behind me.

"As ready as I'll ever be," he said, trying to sound confident despite the fear emanating from him in the Force.

"You still have the choice of backing out," I reminded.

"Not going to happen, Rock," he responded.

I nodded, and we landed near what looked like a cave.

I jumped out, helping Shaun out since he wasn't used to being in Starfighters.

"Well, no Starhopper. Perhaps this isn't Estella," Felix commented.

"Her Starhopper would stand out almost anywhere, it's white and pink. She would have hidden it if it's here," I told him.

Felix and Shaun both pulled out their swords, and I summoned my Black Blade as we entered the cave.

It was dark, so I ignited my eye flame, casting a dim, flickering blue light over the surroundings.

After venturing through the cave for a minute, we found some light. Extinguishing my flame, we snuck around the corner.

"Well damn, she's definitely not Estella," I sighed, seeing the red-haired girl with horns who seemed to be malnourished and cold.

I de-spawned my weapon and walked out of cover, instantly gaining her attention.

"A Sleeping Knight?! Please, I promise I was only doing it to survive," she panicked. Though I sensed something for a moment before she mentally covered herself.

_Force sensitive?_

"Calm down. It's pretty obvious you're only trying to get by. But you could have done it without stealing," I smiled gently.

"Well…I didn't have much choice…no one would help me because…" she said, pointing to her horns meekly. She sounded weak, which made sense I guess.

"Geeze. What's your name?" asked Felix, also coming out from cover.

"Aisha Young," she answered.

"Well Aisha, why don't you come back with us. We'll take care of you for a while until we can get your life back on track," he suggested.

She seemed to be surprised at the offer.

"W-Wait, really?!"

I glanced back at Felix, instantly recognising what he was doing. There was still the chance that she was lying, so keeping her with us meant we could keep an eye on her. If she really was just having a hard life, we'd be doing her a favour. If she's lying and is just trying to gain our trust, we'll be able to figure it out and do Theed a favour.

Plus, she sure as hell wasn't human, and we didn't know any races who looked completely like a human but had horns.

"Really. For now, you'll have to come with us but as soon as we can we'll take you back to our cruiser and you can recover there," I smiled.

"O-Okay!" she said with a relieved smile.

Finally, Shaun came out of cover.

"O-Oh," Aisha stuttered, looking at Shaun.

_Really…_ I thought, sensing her emotions in the Force. I scanned Shaun. _Is Shaun about to become a dense anime protagonist…?_

"U-Um…Hello," she continued.

"H-Hey," Shaun stuttered, though in his case it was because he was shy and wasn't expecting Aisha to talk to him.

"I uh, k-know Miss Khai and M-Mister Calnore, b-but you're n-not a Sleeping Knight, a-are you?" she questioned, seeming to be hoping that he wasn't. Or perhaps she was hoping he was?

_Either way, I didn't expect to have to deal with girls fighting over Shaun since I know Rika also seemed to fall for him when she saw him…_

"Uh, no I'm not. Not officially, I'm j-just working with them,"

"Oh…well, um, wh-what's your n-name?"

"S-Shaun Bailey,"

"Shaun…that's a n-nice name," she whispered under her breath so that Shaun wouldn't hear.

It was then that I realised something.

_I have to ask him about that when we're out of here._

"Well, we should get going," Felix said, though I could tell he was enjoying the scene in front of us.

Felix and Aisha started walking out of the cave, with Aisha attempting to look at Shaun occasionally which I found rather amusing.

I held Shaun back for a second, so we ended up walking out a little bit behind.

"I have one question about the Wake," I said.

"Oh? What's up, Rock?"

"You said your last name is Bailey, I know it's a one in a billion chance that you're who I think you might be, but, is it okay if I ask your father's name?"

"Oh, Jackson Bailey," he answered.

"Oh…my…god…"

Shaun looked at me, curious.

"Was…Was he a race car driver…?" I questioned. Shaun nodded. I stopped walking, frozen in shock at the revelation that had just occurred.

"Rock?"

"…did he race in Australia in 2018?"

"Um…yeah…"

_You're fucking kidding me!_

"He was in the Enduro Cup, wasn't he? And his co-driver…was…"

Shaun didn't quite get what I was talking about. "His co-driver was a gamer named Christopher Caster, right?" he stated casually.

"Y-Yeah…my dad…"

Now Shaun was the one to freeze up in shock.

"H-H-Hold up, you mean both our fathers actually drove together?!"

I nodded. "What are the fucking chances…" I whispered under my breath.

"That's…insane!"

"Yeah, sure is,"

I quickly shook my head, trying to bring myself back to the situation at hand. We had a clone of me on the loose and now we had a horned girl, who has already taken a liking to Shaun, to look after.

"Well, let's be surprised later. I sense danger coming," I warned.

We caught up to Felix and Aisha who were waiting at the cave entrance.

"We got company," Felix noted. Sure enough, I saw the white and pink Starhopper belonging to Estella landing.

"Get ready,"

Shaun and Felix drew their swords, while I summoned my blade.

"Stay with the fighters, Aisha," I warned.

She nodded, taking cover under the _Brunhilde_.

The three of us marched towards Estella, who was waiting for us with her White Scythe.

"I hope you're ready to die, _White Rock Shooter_," I growled.

"Well…I believe you will be the one dying…Black Rock Shooter…" she responded in her normal, almost emotionless tone.

"Not while we're here," Shaun sneered.

Felix was the first to charge in. Estella reacted quickly, but he already knew what she was about to do. He blocked her scythe with ease, before doing a roundhouse kick and stunning her. I took the chance to dash into the fight, moving so fast that it may have seemed like I had teleported to most people watching. My Black Blade stabbed straight at her chest, but only cut across her side as she quickly dodged. At the same time, the scythe came around and tripped me, aiming for my torso. As I fell backwards I twisted my body, turning my blade around in my hand so that the scythe clashed with it instead of hitting me, and at the same time I pushed myself off the ground, kicking Estella in the face and landing perfectly on my feet.

Shaun quickly blocked a swing and gave Felix another opening to attack. But I noticed an issue in his fighting style; he was using the sword as if it were a katana. Normally, his sabre techniques were completely different to his usual training techniques since he would often use a katana when based on Earth. The weight of the sword probably made him go into that style by instinct, since it was heavier than a lightsabre.

_Looks like I'm gonna have to contact Rayna…_

His katana-style only managed to clash against the scythe and I quickly stepped in to make sure he didn't get hurt.

My blade struck Estella's arm, causing her to faulter for a moment, but it wasn't enough as the scythe struck Shaun with its handle, pushing him back and causing him to keel over. The tip of the scythe's blade scratched my leg, causing me to yelp in pain.

Felix reached his hand out as I fell, I grabbed it in an instant and he used his strength along with my own momentum to drag me around and within a split second I was flying towards Estella, blade ready for the kill.

Unfortunately, she blocked it once more and I simply landed behind her.

When I looked back she had already changed her hold on the scythe and it was about to strike Shaun, this time in such a way that would cut him clean in half.

But much to her frustration, my blade appeared between him and the scythe and they clashed violently.

Using a slight Force push, I shoved Shaun back enough that I could manoeuvre the scythe around and jump over it, once more kicking Estella in the face.

Felix was behind her, but backflipped as the scythe almost hit him in the chest.

I took a glance back at Shaun and was shocked to see Aisha kissing him. By the look on his face, he had a similar reaction.

A bright red glow surrounded the girl, and her ragged appearance became much neater and more appealing. With black shorts almost identical to mine, a white shirt that appeared to only be held on by being tight around her chest and a black jacket with a black gauntlet on her right hand. Around her neck was a piece of material that looked more like a bandage acting as a choker, and a purple sword with a black hilt appeared in her left hand. She glared at Estella, eyes glowing red and clearly pissed off.

"Now you'll face the wrath of a true demon," she said, her voice booming across the forest.

She dashed forward with speeds almost matching my own, clashing her blade against the scythe.

Estella was surprised, to say the least. But she recovered quickly, blocking every attack Aisha could throw at her and even forcing Aisha's blade away enough that she was able to start attacking. Now Aisha was defending, but she didn't seem to have much struggle.

I rushed back in, joining the demon-girl in forcing Estella back. Finally, under the combined strength of the two of us, she realised she was outmatched. As fast as lightning, she vanished from before us. Next thing we heard was her fighter taking off.

I got rid of my Black Blade, turning to Aisha who seemed a little out of breath, but otherwise okay.

"So, are you some kind of Succubus or something?" I questioned, since a Succubus was the first demon-type I could think of when I recalled her kissing Shaun.

"A-A Succubus?! Hell no! Do NOT put me in the same boat as those whores," Aisha defended, seeming quite offended.

"I'm sorry! I couldn't think of anything else!" I quickly apologised.

Aisha huffed in irritation.

"For your information, I am a Princess of the Demons of Nethuna. Or…was…" she trailed off.

I glanced at Felix and Shaun.

"…was?" Shaun questioned.

Aisha suddenly returned to her shy personality from earlier.

"U-Um…well…I-I, uh…I m-may have…c-caused some i-issues…b-by accident…"

Somehow, I pretty much immediately knew what she meant.

"So…you're saying you were clumsy," I stated. The way she hid her face, while attempting to deny it gave me all the proof I needed.

"And by the looks of it, you lost most of your powers," Felix finished.

"I-I-I…Shut up! Okay fine! I was a klutz! I was exiled and stripped of my power because I was a complete klutz! Are you happy now?!" she screamed, tears rushing from her eyes.

Before I said anything else, she rushed back to the cave.

"Geeze, guys," Shaun sighed.

"I'm not sure being a klutz was the only reason she was exiled…" I commented.

"Rock! C'mon!" Shaun complained.

"Oh shush, they're demons. I'm not saying I dislike her, I'm simply saying the way she's acting is pretty pathetic for a demon," I defended.

"Well, she _did_ help us push Estella back," Felix noted.

"I know…alright, well, we've gotta get ready to chase Estella. Shaun, would you like to go see if you can calm Aisha down enough to get her to come with us?" I said.

"But- Wait…you still want her along?" Shaun questioned, surprised.

"Didn't I just say I didn't dislike her?"

"R-Right…"

I sighed, but smiled as Shaun went back to the cave to talk to Aisha.

"That girl is going to cause so much trouble, isn't she," chuckled Felix.

"She sure is," I lightly laughed.

_**Sector 4: Dark Creatures Aplenty**_

_**Shaun Bailey's POV:**_

I tried to gather my courage as I entered the cave after the demon that had just kissed me.

"Aisha?" I called out. There was no response, however I could hear muffled sobs.

I proceeded farther in and finally found the young girl. Or…at least…I assumed she was young…

_Then again, what's young for a demon?_

"Aisha," I whispered, kneeling next to her.

"You probably think I'm a pathetic failure, don't you," she moped.

"Well, I can't speak for Ro-… Stella or Felix, but I don't think you're a failure," I comforted.

She looked up at me, tear stains down her cheeks, and eyes red. Or…well, you know what I mean…

"R-Really?"

I couldn't help but smile at how adorable she was right now.

"Really. You did just save our lives, without you it would have been much harder to beat Estella away," I said.

Without much warning, she threw herself into me, wrapping her arms around my neck. Hesitantly, I put my arms around her, patting her head in an attempt to calm her down.

_I'm giving a demon a head pat. Never thought I'd be doing that._

"C-Could you…c-c-carry m-me…?" Aisha mumbled.

I felt my face get hot at her request, unsure how to respond, I ended up as a stuttering mess.

The girl in my arms looked up at me and started giggling.

"You're about as red as my hair," she teased.

"Sh-Shut up," I responded, looking away.

I was used to my sister asking me to carry her sometimes, which I figured was her way of making sure I kept in shape, but this girl was not my sister…

Even so, I summoned every ounce of courage I could. And more…since every ounce I had still wasn't enough…

Repositioning my arms, I picked the demon up, surprised at how light she was.

She buried her face into my neck, which didn't exactly help my case of trying to keep this courage. I literally had no idea what to do with her.

I made my way back out of the cave and was about to call out to Stella and Felix, when I noticed something in the distance.

"Aisha, how's your sight?" I asked.

"Better than a human's, why?" she looked at me curiously. I nodded in the direction I was looking. "That's… Estella's fighter. It's coming directly this way, and it looks like she's ready to shoot us,"

"Oh shit… MOVE!" I yelled.

Stella and Felix looked my direction and quickly made their way under cover. I took cover back in the cave with Aisha.

Sure enough, the incoming Starhopper fired and Felix's fighter went up in flames, the shockwave from the explosion pushing Aisha back into me.

_Geeze, this girl is ridiculously light. She needs a sandwich._

All four of us came out of cover.

"Well…at least the _Brunhilde_ wasn't destroyed," Stella commented.

"Yeah…god damnit Estella," Felix groaned.

"So what now? The _Brunhilde_ only holds two people," I said.

"Now I guess we see if the _Night Fury_ is free to come pick us up," she replied. "Though we should move the _Brunhilde_ somewhere safer,"

"My cave is big enough," Aisha suggested.

"Alright, sounds good for now. Felix, see what the Knights are doing. Hopefully they don't need the _Night Fury_ right now,"

We got out of the way as Stella powered her fighter up and hovered it into the cave.

"Sleeping Knights, come in. This is Felix," Felix said into his commlink.

There was a pause…

"Felix! Glad to hear you're alive. We were called back to Earth, there's been a Yuuzhan Vong attack," came what sounded like the voice of Rika.

"Jesus, alright. Well, I'm assuming that means the _Night Fury_ is in use? Because we kinda need it right now,"

"Rika's currently in the _Night Fury_, she's just dropped us off at Helms Deep. I think we can send it your way, we'll just keep the _Eviscerator_ to fight the Vong back," came the voice of the Queen of Qeios.

"Copy that. We're on Naboo, just outside Theed," Felix nodded.

"Alright, hold on there Cuz, I'm on my way. Rika out,"

"You heard that Stel?" Felix asked.

"Yep, loud and clear," Stella replied.

As I sat down on a rock to rest, Aisha immediately jumped onto my lap, nuzzling her face into my neck.

_Oh boy, this is gonna be a long day._

_**Jane Borne's POV:**_

I built as big of an ice wall as I could to force the Yuuzhan Vong that had landed into a bottleneck.

From there, they were mowed down by humans from Gondor and elves.

"There's too many, they're going around the wall," Sonia reported.

"Shit," came a sharp yelp from Matt as he received a cut on his leg from a stray Yuuzhan Vong. Lyla jumped down on top of it, slicing it in half with her blue blade.

"Some SKYE Droids might be nice right about now," Sonia said over her commlink.

"Sending a squadron of them down now," replied an engineer on the _Scarlet Eviscerator_.

A good portion of the Vong were wiped out by the incoming droids, but the enemy responded with hundreds of Coralskippers. The fact that a single SKYE droid went down in flames almost immediately after a bunch of Coralskippers focused on it told me we were still in trouble.

"Incoming TSFs. Qeios, Arendelle, Arndel, Fremmevilla, Kuschpercha, Zaloudek, United Medoua, Montana, Roseon, Kaedilar, Seintsuro, Luxania, Austrenia, Hanamura and England have all supplied reinforcements," alerted a soldier.

Sure enough, varying models of Tactical Surface Fighters, Silhouette Knights, Atmospheric Fighters, Atmospheric Bombers, Attack Helicarriers and Helicarriers bringing Hover Tanks and other land vehicles from all over the world swarmed the horizon.

A transport which I identified as being from England landed near us, (English aircraft are easy to recognise because they're all UNSC Craft from Halo. The transport was basically a UNSC Pelican) and a bunch of soldiers poured out to join our battle.

"Alright, we may just be able to do it now," I smirked, refocusing on the battle.

_**Elsa Arendelle's POV:**_

While the attack on Middle Earth occurred, I was stuck in Qeios with Rivatha after a slight incident with some citizens who went where they weren't supposed to.

An old flaming torch in one hand, and my ice sword, the Claws of Iceolation, in the other, I followed Rivatha into the abandoned depths of Qeios.

"Are you sure the reports came from down here? Who would even be in here?" I asked.

"I'm sure. As for who was here, a couple of kids venturing where they shouldn't. These tunnels are long abandoned, used for refuge in old days of war. Before the original kingdom was destroyed. Now most of the capital is an underground city, as you know. So we have no need for these refuges," Rivatha explained, her tone low and sad.

The original kingdom. The cause of their destruction has been forgotten for many years, but even in Arendelle's schools, kids were taught about the original Qeios. It was one of the most magnificent kingdoms around. But one day it was wiped out, and they moved underground.

"Now it's basically a tomb. The main entrance was blocked, the people in here starved and suffocated. It was worse than the Battle of Alfheim, except no one knew they were here," she continued.

"Jesus. I never knew you had this sort of place right under the main castle of Qeios," I commented.

"Most people don't."

We continued through the tunnels until Rivatha held up her hand, indicating to stop.

I heard sounds up ahead and used my ice to extinguish the torch.

A dim blue light was still visible, and I realised where it was coming from.

"Riva, your blade. Isn't it…Elvish…?" I whispered.

She looked at the sword in her sheath and took it out. We were bathed in blue light, and Rivatha looked to me, her expression a mixture of surprise and horror.

We both knew what it meant.

_Middle Earth Orcs._

_What are orcs doing in Qeios? They've never left Middle Earth! Unless…there were a couple reported in Gorgonroth, land of the Goblins…but they should have been killed by the Yuuzhan Vong!_

"If there's orcs in Qeios, we can't let them get into the city," Rivatha whispered. I nodded.

We cautiously continued until we came across light.

I was about to say something, but I sensed movement behind me and spun around, ice sword at the ready.

A loud roar was heard as an ugly-ass orc swung his blade down on top of me. I pushed it to the side with Claws of Iceolation and summoned Fangs of Iceolation in my left hand, driving it into the orc's chest.

I looked back at Rivatha and saw her fighting off multiple orcs.

I sent a blast of ice at some of them, killing them instantly, and jumped into the mix before more could surround Rivatha.

Fortunately for us, it was only a small group and we took care of them quickly. Rivatha's blade stopped glowing, meaning we could take a breather.

"I'm getting too old for this shit," she panted.

I looked at her, and we both laughed.

"C'mon Riva, you're only, what, 75?" I joked.

"Easy for you to say, 69-year-old bastard," she smirked.

"Heh, I guess we are getting pretty old for this huh," I smiled.

I caught a glimpse of something in the corner, and went over to it.

"Hidden passage, perhaps this is why they were here," I noted.

Rivatha did a double take, before reaching to stop me from using my ice.

It was a tad too late as I forced the rock apart.

"Something I shouldn't know about?" I questioned, glancing at Rivatha's hand on mine.

"While I can't be sure, I recognise the text above the hole. If you go in there, you may find out something that might shock you," she answered.

Suddenly, the room shook as if from an earthquake.

"Shit, we must be under the Military hangar! It's the deepest part of Qeios still accessible, moving those rocks seems to have made the tunnels unstable," Rivatha warned.

"Watch out!" I yelled, pushing Rivatha out of the way of a falling rock and diving away myself.

When the dust settled, I could barely see anything from the faint crack of light reaching around the boulder in front of me.

"Rivatha!" I called.

"Elsa, I'm okay. There's no communication signal down here so I'm gonna have to head back a bit to tell the Military to stay grounded for the moment. I'll be back as soon as I can to help," Rivatha replied.

"If you can get a Jedi or someone who can move this rock, that would be great," I said.

"I'll see what I can do," she called back.

I heard her footsteps running back down the tunnels into the distance.

By now, my eyes had adjusted to the dim light and I could see around the room.

It was…a little disturbing.

_I guess this is the true entrance to the tunnels. It was never uncovered, and all these people were left to rot for all these years._

A little ways away was a doorway leading into darkness, and I didn't feel like entering considering what was already around me.

Well preserved bodies of the Qeians that were trapped here over 600 years ago littered the floor. I recognised a couple of guard uniforms amongst the corpses too.

An unnatural gust of cold air hit me lightly, and I almost froze up because I knew what it meant.

Spirits.

While I couldn't see them, they were there. I was probably surrounded, and I had nothing I could do against it.

I took a deep breath and calmed myself down.

_If I don't give them a reason to attack, I should be okay._

Part of me thought I could hear faint voices, and I knew I wasn't going crazy. It was simply further proof of the ghosts that surrounded me at the moment.

Aside from my initial deep breath, I kept my breathing shallow. There wasn't much air down here, so I would run out quickly if I panicked. Though I guessed that even with my shallow breathing, I'd only last up to 30 minutes.

Figuring I had at least 10 minutes until Rivatha returned, I sat down at the entrance, listening out for any more sounds that weren't eerie ghostly whispers coming from deeper in the tunnel.

**!=-{+}-=!**

It had been 16 minutes since Rivatha left, and I could feel my mental barriers being worn down by the ghostly tunnels. There were multiple times I swore I could hear footsteps, or even screams coming from all around me. Figures in the darkness were becoming more and more common too.

I was getting cold, colder than I was normally used to. I knew I had to move, but I could barely shift my limbs. I was frozen in fear I couldn't control.

I also felt rather sick and had already thrown up once.

I heard more footsteps, but these ones seemed to get louder. Despite my successful attempts so far, my breath quickened in panic. I was about to freak out, when I heard a familiar voice.

"Elsa! Elsa! Are you there?" came the voice of Rivatha.

I breathed out a sigh of relief as the cold retreated, and I was able to get up.

"Yeah, I'm here. Pretty sure I'm not alone in here though," I replied, my voice coarse and quiet.

"…You're not. Hopefully we're not too late," came another voice I didn't recognise. "I'm going to move this boulder but please do not turn your back on whatever is in there."

I nodded and kept my back to the boulder. I heard it begin to move, and slowly more light entered the room.

"Okay, the gap's big enough. I'm coming in," the new voice said.

A young girl around the same age as Stella appeared beside me, a katana in her left hand which was glowing a bright white, casting even more light on the room. Something about her seemed oddly familiar, but I brushed it off.

The girl had long light brown hair and cat ears, though the lack of a tail told me she wasn't a neko. She also had heterochromatic eyes, with her left eye being green and her right being blue.

"A Cait Sith fairy?" I questioned.

"Yeah, you're lucky I was in Qeios," she answered.

"Wait, how did you move that boulder? And why is your sword glowing?"

"I moved the boulder with magic. As for my blade, this is Phantomlight. It glows white in the presence of spirits, revealing them so we can see them. It also works at hurting them," she explained.

"Wait, you were in there for 16 minutes surrounded by ghosts? The fuck is actually in there?" came Rivatha's voice.

"It's…a tomb…" the fairy answered, now taking notice of the bodies around us.

Now with the glow from Phantomlight, I could see farther into the tunnel. I noticed a familiar symbol hanging up.

"What's your name?" I asked the fairy.

"Brianna Jellt, Cait Sith Warrior of Alfheim, originally from Skyrim," she answered.

"Alright, Brianna, could you come with me for a moment?" I requested.

"You're not actually thinking of going deeper, are you? Whoa…" inquired Rivatha before she noticed the bodies, since she had snuck around the boulder to join us just now.

"Not too far, but there's something in that tunnel I want to check," I said.

Brianna looked to Rivatha, before quickly looking back and raising her katana.

"Not sure you want to, the spirits were scared away when we came down but they're returning. I can see three just outside the reach of Phantomlight's glow. They look like guards, and they're ready to attack," she warned.

Before I replied, I saw something in the corner of my eye.

In a flash, Brianna moved to the side and Phantomlight locked with a ghost blade coming out of a wall. She stepped backwards as a ghost in ancient Qeios Guardian armour stepped out of the wall.

"I guess that's what she meant when she said Phantomlight reveals them," Rivatha commented.

"They're Qeian, Your Majesty. That sword of yours, it was forged by the First Age Elves at Gondolin as a gift to the Queen of Qeios back in those days. Show them and they should back down," Brianna said.

Rivatha unsheathed her sword, and stepped forward.

"Guardians of Qeios, see this blade and bow. For only the rulers of Qeios may wield Herdir Magol -o i Qeios," she said with as much authority as she could muster.

Instead of stopping, the three spirits Brianna mentioned before entered the radius, ready to attack.

Rivatha took a deep breath, gathering her courage.

"Guardians -o Qeios, see hi blade a peng. An onlui i rulers -o Qeios lothron wield Herdir Magol -o i Qeios," she spoke in the foreign language of Sindarin, her tone bringing back memories of her days as Queen even when speaking the Elven language.

The four Guardians halted their movements and faced Rivatha. After a pause, they all lowered their heads, got down on one knee and put their hands against their chest.

"Sui rís -o Qeios, im conn- cin na stand aside a let ammen aglon."

'_As Queen of Qeios, I order you to stand aside and let us pass.'_

And to my slight surprise, the Guardians retreated into the darkness.

"Impressive. I almost forgot you could speak Elvish so fluently," I smirked.

"As former Queen of Qeios, it was required that I learn Sindarin. Even Sonia has had to learn it. You may not know, but it used to be the primary language spoken in Qeios," Rivatha noted.

"Alright, so what is it that you wanted to check, Your Majesty?" asked Brianna, turning to me.

I cautiously walked into the tunnel ahead, feeling the chill of the air hit me through my gown.

When I turned to where I had seen the familiar symbol, I almost stumbled back and off a ledge.

Rivatha caught me, and looked at what I had seen.

"That's…" Brianna gasped in surprise.

"An Arendellian Knight," I finished.

"Look, there's more. Why are they all hanging? It's as if the Qeians executed them," Brianna commented.

I looked to Rivatha for answers.

She looked away, which was a clear indication she knew exactly what we were looking at.

"Over here, Elvish text," called Brianna.

"Riva, translate," I ordered.

"I'm not sure you want to hear it," she sighed. My stern look was all she needed for an answer. "Alright… Hi na- a warning na anui adan plural edain o Arendelle who dares na peni- dál in mín domain ad-. Cin took mín bar, some aur cin will feel i naeg cin caused ammen. Tir- ed-. It translates to; This is a warning to any man from Arendelle who dares to set foot in our domain again. You took our home, some day you will feel the pain you caused us. Watch out."

I stared at her in shock.

"Wait…who exactly destroyed the original Qeios?" I slowly questioned.

"The Kingdom of Arendelle. It was during the Qeios-Arendelle war, which stretched from 0 ABA to 2 ABA, or in other words, 600 BBY to 598 BBY. Qeios suffered a monstrous defeat in 0.5 ABA and lost their capital because of it. This was way back in the days of dragons, and Arendelle had managed to train a few. That was the real purpose for the creation of Arndel. Arndel was the homeland of the great Arundel Dragons. Two dragons were sent from Arndel, and they wiped out the kingdom. Qeios had some warning and evacuated most of their citizens down here, but the destruction caused was enough to cause some instability in the tunnels, thus collapsing the entrances. Eventually, we defeated Arendelle in 2 ABA and took over the rule. The King, Queen and Princesses that were killed when you were fighting Joshua Puller? They were Qeians. The last in the line from the original royals we put in charge of Arendelle. You, Anna and your kids are the true descendants of Arendelle's original founders," Rivatha explained.

I looked between Rivatha and the hanging corpses of Arendellian Knights, trying to piece together what she had just said.

_We destroyed them? Wait, how did this war end up forgotten? No wait, Arendelle was ruled by Qeians pretending to be Arendellians, they would have wiped any record of the war from our history. _

"So all that time, you were really in charge of Arendelle until I came along," I realised.

"Pretty much, yeah," Riva nodded.

"Does Sonia know?"

"Yes. Much like my father taught me our history, I have taught her."

I stared into Rivatha's eyes.

"Jane has married Sonia, so now she's a Princess of Qeios, soon to be a Queen. Were you planning on telling her, or were you going to leave her out of this because she's a descendant of the Arendelle bloodline?" I demanded.

"Sonia expressed her wishes of telling Jane on multiple occasions. Now that she's Queen, it's up to her. But we agreed that if she told Jane, I would tell you," Rivatha said with a stern look. "I know you're probably pissed off, but you have to realise how serious Arendelle's attack was. It was the choice of our leaders of old to keep this secret, and so it's been our duty to honour their wishes."

I sighed, glancing back at the Arendellians.

"I guess you had no choice. Well, I'm at least glad you told me now."

"Your Majesties, if I may, we should get out of here. Rivatha may have the Qeians at bay for now, but if these bodies are here we may have more spirits to worry about," Brianna alerted.

I quickly realised her sword had never stopped glowing the entire time, and now it had begun glowing as bright as it was when the spirits had been right in front of us.

_Wait…that means…_

"Behind you!" Rivatha yelled.

Brianna spun around and raised her katana at just the right time.

At about the same time as Rivatha, I had noticed a white figure entering the radius of Phantomlight's glow dressed in the same Arendellian Knight armour as the bodies around us, sword raised and coming down to attack the fairy.

"Let's go!" Brianna yelled.

Rivatha and I turned to the entrance, only to be stopped by five more Arendellian Knights.

"Knights of Arendelle, stand down. I am Elsa Arendelle, your Queen," I ordered. But they didn't listen and charged at us.

"Qeios Guardians, im tolth- thee. Beri- cín rís, beri- i living! Then, cin will finallui n- released o service na hi beleg Arnad!" Rivatha called out.

A legion of Qeios Guardians came out of the walls and blocked the five Knights in front of us.

I glanced back at Brianna who was fighting a group of Knights with some Guardians helping her.

A Knight got close to us, and by instinct I summoned Claws of Iceolation and sliced through him. Of course, my blade did nothing but simply pass through him. The only blade here we could use was Phantomlight.

"Bri, let's go!" Rivatha called. The young fairy pushed the Knight back and followed us as we ran out of the tunnel, taking caution not to step on any bodies.

Once we got into the first room with light, Brianna immediately used her magic to reseal the entrance behind us.

"I've put a spell on the entrance, they can't escape," she panted.

"What about the Qeians?" I asked.

"Rivatha freed them. The only spirits trapped in there now are Arendellians. Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do for them," the Cait Sith sighed.

"Alas, it seems they won't answer to Arendelle anymore anyway. Perhaps it's for the best," I nodded.

"Perhaps. Now, I say we get out of here and collapse the tunnels. That way we won't have any more issues with orcs down here, and no one else will accidentally stumble across that tomb," Rivatha said.

Brianna nodded. "I can do that with my magic once we're out."

We all made our way back out of the tunnels and into the Main Building.

Brianna looked to us, and we both nodded.

She focused on the tunnels, and the whole ground started shaking.

"Most people will simply assume it's an Earthquake. Qeios is built to withstand such occurrences so there shouldn't be much panic," commented Rivatha when she noticed my slight surprise.

"Very well. We should check on the Sleeping Knights," I said.

Rivatha turned to the fairy. "Brianna, your help has been much appreciated. I hope this won't be the last time we meet,"

Brianna bowed. "Of course, Your Majesty, it was my pleasure,"

With that, we turned and went our separate ways.

"Sleeping Knights, come in. This is Rivatha,"

All we got back was static.

"We're being jammed," I quickly realised.

"Which means we're under attack. Qeios Guardians, gather all remaining forces left in the city and proceed to the Western Entrance," Rivatha announced over local comms. "We need the Virtcast,"

"Umm…one problem…where the fuck are they?"

Rivatha stared at me.

"…you're fucking joking…"

_**Sector 5: The Mistletoe Blooms**_

_**Rika Tarlo's POV:**_

I landed near where I was picking up a signal from Stella, and saw her fighter in a cave.

"Hey Stel, any luck with Estella?" I asked when I disembarked from the shuttle.

"Unfortunately, she got away again. Such a pain in the arse that girl is," Stella groaned.

I saw Shaun behind her and was about to say something when I noticed a red-haired girl clinging to his arm.

_Oh come on, he was hopeless when I met him a few days ago! Not fair!_

"Felix, you and Rika will be piloting the _Night Fury_. Perhaps Shaun and Aisha should go with you guys too," Stella said, turning to the three behind her.

"Who's the red chick attached to Shaun?" I whispered to Stella.

"That's Aisha. We found her starving in that cave. She helped us push Estella back. She also happens to be a demon," she replied.

"And she thinks she can seduce the kid just like that. I'll show her…" I grumbled.

"Huh? Didn't quite catch that," Stella said.

"Oh, nothing! Just talking nonsense to myself," I covered.

Another glance back at the two and I noticed that she was holding his arm against her chest. I looked down at my own chest and cursed.

_Why do I have to be flat…ter than her…_

I followed Felix back onto the _Night Fury_, trying to ignore the demon for now.

"Alright, we need to return to Earth for the moment. _Felix_ needs a new blade, he's trying to use katana forms with a short sword," Stella alerted over the comms.

I glanced over at Felix, trying- and failing -to hold back laughter.

"It was a natural reaction with the weight! I can't help it since I train with katanas!" he complained.

Shaun chuckled from behind us. "I'll let Rayna know she needs to get a katana prepared for you,"

"Rayna?" Aisha questioned.

"My twin sister," he answered.

"Ahh,"

_Really? Is she THAT into Shaun already?_

"Hey Aisha, what's a demon like you doing on Naboo?" I questioned.

"Oh, um…t-that's…a long s-story…" she replied.

"It'll take quite a while to get to Earth," I said, sitting back while Felix sent us into hyperspace towards Earth.

She seemed to look to Shaun for help, but unfortunately for her, Shaun was distracted by the _Night Fury_'s computers. And was further distracted when Felix dragged him out the back to train.

Now it was just me and Aisha.

"More importantly, what's got you so interested in Shaun?" I dropped.

Aisha didn't reply at first, she simply looked at me. I couldn't quite tell what she was thinking, but suddenly I got a cold shiver through my spine.

_Maybe I shouldn't have said that…_

"I see… May I ask you if you are currently dating him?" she said.

I was a little taken aback at the sudden question, but shook my head.

"Then there's no issues," she smiled.

_The fuck you mean, no issues!_

"W-Well…" I started, not sure what to say now.

_She's completely different to before!_

A faint red glow began emanating from her body.

"_Or are you still going to try to get him?_" she questioned in a low tone.

_The hell…_

"I saw him first,"

_Seriously, Rika? That's all you've got? That's pathetic!_

"_Well I acted first,_" she responded. Before I knew it, a purple blade was at my neck.

_Oh…my…god…she's…she's a yandere…a real life yandere…and I'm her competition…_

I gulped.

"C-C-C'mon now, w-we don't n-n-need to f-fight like th-this," I said with nervous laughter.

I heard footsteps coming up the hall, and in less than a second, Aisha was back to normal, her sword gone and that look on her face of wanting me dead had vanished.

_Jesus Christ, Shaun… This isn't good…_

The door opened, and Shaun appeared.

"Felix wants to talk to Aisha for a moment," he said.

Aisha nodded and left the bridge, leaving us alone.

_Girl you gotta tell him he's got a fucking yandere by his side otherwise he's gonna wake up to his new friends' dead bodies._

"Shaun, what exactly do you think of Aisha?" I asked.

"Ehh? U-Umm…I-I'm not sure…" he stuttered, surprised at the sudden question.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, I continued.

"I'm asking that because…"

_C'mon, this is gonna get you killed. But you've got Felix and Shaun around you, so it should be fine, right?_

"Well…I-I…"

_OH MY GOD JUST FUCKING SAY IT RIKA!_

I took a deep breath.

"I want to be your girlfriend," I blurted.

Shaun's face went as red as Aisha's hair, and he was frozen.

_Great…now look what you did…_

"I-I'm sorry…" I apologised, turning back to the controls.

It was silent for a while.

_Good job, Rika._

"o-o..y," I turned back, unable to hear what he said.

"Huh…?"

"O-O-O…kay…" he managed to get out.

Now it was my turn to freeze.

"Wh…What…"

_Did he just…?_

He closed his eyes, bowed and shouted so loud I thought there was no way Aisha and Felix wouldn't hear.

"OKAY. You can be my girlfriend,"

…_holy fuck…_

His eyes were still closed, face bright red, bowing his head low.

"Y-You…really mean it…?"

He rapidly nodded his head, still not opening his eyes.

_Did I just…get a boyfriend…?_

I wasn't sure what to do. Normally I never became shy but…

I took another deep breath. There was only one thing I really could do right now.

I got up from my seat and closed the distance between us. I slowly made him stop bowing, seeing and sensing how nervous he was.

I pulled him close to me, wrapping my arms around his neck. He was only a couple centimetres taller than me, so it wasn't that hard to rest my chin on his shoulder.

Hesitantly, he put his arms around me.

_I fucking did it… My first boyfriend…_

_**Shaun Bailey's POV:**_

For the second time that day, I was being hugged by a cute girl.

AND I HAD ABSOLUTLEY NO IDEA WHAT TO DO.

Of course, me being me, I had thought she was just trying to tease me when I first heard her call me cute. I never expected Rika to suddenly confess to me.

It was then that I felt tears against my neck.

_Is she crying?! What, why?_

"R-Rika…?"

She tried to wipe her tears away. "I-I'm fine…I'm just really happy…" she replied.

_O-Okay, they're tears of joy. That's okay, r-right? _

"Can we just stay like this for a while?" she whispered.

"Okay,"

**!=-{+}-=!**

About half an hour later, it was time for us to go to bed. Rika pulled me aside again so that Aisha and Felix couldn't hear us.

"There's…something else I probably should have told you," she said, seemingly unsure about what she was about to say.

_Oh boy, has this already failed?_

"Aisha is…well, there's not really any other way I can put it. She's a yandere. When she learnt that I liked you, she almost killed me. And then you walked in and saved my life," she admitted.

_Wh…What…? Aisha is…well, of course the damn demon is a yandere. There had to be some sort of twist to her, she's way too nice to be a demon._

"So…how are we going to deal with that while she's here and we're in the Real World?" I questioned.

"I'm…not sure… If she shares a room with Felix and I share with you, she'll get jealous. If I share a room with her, she'll probably kill me in my sleep. And there's no way I'm letting you share a room with her," Rika said.

_Hmm…I suppose it'd be pretty rude to ask her to sleep out here on the couch…why do you guys only have two rooms on this thing? Oh right, because normally only two of you are staying on this overnight. Stella and Felix._

Funny thing though, we returned to the main room and found the demon-girl asleep on the couch anyway.

"Well that was…easier than expected," Rika whispered.

We were about to turn back when we heard her mumbling in her sleep.

"_Hmm…why you, baby? Well it's because I get my powers back from kissing a virgin. You should be honoured,_"

Rika looked like she wasn't sure whether to be sick, or burst into laughter.

_Seriously? THAT's how she gets her powers? THAT'S why she's been stuck to me?!_

"How did she even know…" I wondered under my breath.

"With you? It's pretty easy to tell," Rika teased.

"_What? Felix? But he's not a virgin, it wouldn't work,_"

"I did not need to know that," Rika groaned, before dragging me back to one of the bedrooms.

"Let's just hope I'm not dead by tomorrow,"

I agreed, and we went to bed.

**Real World**

I awoke to the sound of my sister barging into my room.

"Shaun!"

"Umm…Rayna…?"

"I was talking to your friend, Stella. Not sure sleeping with a demon is the best idea," she noted.

"Wh-WHAT?! RAYNA!" I threw one of my pillows at her, which she dodged and ran out of the room giggling.

"God damnit Rayna!"

**!=-{+}-=!**

I forcefully dragged Rayna into my room after getting dressed.

"Rayna, I am NOT sleeping with a demon right now. Plus, there's been quite a bit that's happened that Rock doesn't even know about yet," I said.

"Oh? Like what?" she smirked, laying on her stomach on my bed.

"Sometimes I wonder why I take care of you…"

"Ehh? I'm the one taking care of you, Dork. You're literally the only reason I haven't moved out," she shot back.

_Well, that hurt._

"S-Sorry…" I whispered.

She let out a loud sigh. "Shaun, don't. I'm taking care of you because I want to. I don't want to leave you alone, so don't go apologising for it okay?"

I sighed, but nodded. "kay…"

"Alright. So, what's happened on the _Night Fury_?"

I took a deep breath. "Well firstly, Felix's cousin, Rika, asked to be my girlfriend-"

"And you said yes, right?" Rayna interrupted.

"…yes. I was a bit surprised, but yeah,"

"That's awesome! Oohh I'm so proud of you!" she smiled, pulling me into a tight hug.

"Raayyynnnaaaa," I complained.

"She's cute, right?" Rayna inquired, pulling back.

"Wh-What? Y-Yeah, she's cute," I said, looking away.

"See, that's what happens when you go outside," she teased.

"Well…if going outside means I meet people like Aisha, I'm not sure I want to," I admitted.

Rayna quickly stopped smiling, noticing my tone.

"What happened,"

"Well, Aisha is the demon girl. It seems she's also a yandere,"

"A…yandere…?" she asked, confused.

I opened the internet browser on my computer and searched Yandere into Google to get the exact meaning for her.

"Yandere is a portmanteau of two Japanese words yanderu, meaning to be sick, and deredere, which is defined as strongly and deeply exhausted, infatuated, moonstruck, head-over-heels, or lovestruck, but in this case used for 'lovestruck,'"

Rayna still seemed a little confused as to why that was a bad thing. So I went onto the next definition.

"A common term in otaku fandom, a yandere is a person (usually female) romantically obsessed with someone to the point of using violent means to get them in their arms. Often seen with a sharp weapon and a psychotic grin,"

Now Rayna realised the extent of the situation.

"So basically a psychotic bitch," she stated.

"Well, Aisha isn't necessarily that bad. Or at least, I don't think she is. But she did try to kill Rika,"

"…and she's still on that ship…while you, Rika and Felix are asleep…" Rayna deadpanned.

"…yeah…"

There was a bit of silence, the only sound was our breathing and my computer's fan. Which wasn't that loud, seeing as it was the middle of Winter and was snowing outside.

I noticed Rayna shivering from the cold, so I pulled her back close to me to warm her up. She immediately put her arms around me. I felt her warm breath on my neck as we sat there for a while.

"I should have gone with you…" Rayna said after a while.

I shook my head. "No, it was too dangerous. We still haven't beaten Estella, and if Aisha's really a Yandere then she won't care that you're my sister,"

"…I know…I just feel bad for not being there for you,"

I pulled away to look her in the eyes. "But you are here for me. In this world. We're knights in the other world, so we're not gonna be able to stay with each other all the time. But here, that's not the case," I smiled. "And besides, we're on our way back to Earth right now. Oh yeah, I meant to let you know, Felix is gonna need a katana rather than your sword,"

Rayna chuckled quietly. "I'll be sure to get one ready for him," she whispered.

Once more, we sat there for a while in silence.

"Oh shit!" Rayna suddenly exclaimed.

"What?" I asked.

"Damn, she told me to keep it a secret because she didn't think you were gonna get a girlfriend on your own, but Miki's had a crush on you for ages," Rayna groaned.

"Wh-What? Miki? Our friend, Miki Hasen…?" I questioned. Rayna nodded. "Great…she really should have said something…" I sighed.

"Says the boy who would have become completely flustered and unsure of what to do if she did. Besides, she made it incredibly obvious at times. You're just oblivious,"

"Shut up…"

"Speaking of, how'd you go when Rika asked you out?"

"I became completely flustered and unsure of what to do,"

"Ha. Dork," she bopped me on the nose, before burying her face back in my neck.

…

"We haven't talked to Miki or Luka recently, we should see if they're free tonight," she suggested.

"Sounds good to me,"

**!=-{+}-=!**

"Shaun!" I caught the teal-haired girl who had just jumped at me, laughing.

"Hey Miki, been a while," I smiled, putting her down.

"Sure has! Have you been stuck in VR all this time?" she questioned, teasingly.

I thought back to what Rayna had said earlier. To be honest? I also used to have a small crush on Miki. I mean, even just looking at her now, her long teal twin-tails which hadn't been cut since the start of winter so they were nearly down to the ground, her light blue eyes, her small, cute frame… Though she was actually taller than me, but not by much.

I shook my head. "Something like that,"

"Well, I do hope Rayna's taking care of you," teased Luka who came up behind Miki.

Luka was actually a year older than the rest of us. She wasn't much taller than Miki though. Even she was pretty cute, her blue eyes were a much darker shade than Miki's, and her hair was long and straight and pink. Often it was done up, but much like Miki, she hadn't cut it throughout the winter so she had left it down. Of course, her natural hair wasn't pink, it was hazel. And Miki's natural hair colour was blonde.

_And yet, despite the fact that my only friends are cute girls, I still suck at talking to girls._

"Well, what do you want to do tonight?" Miki asked.

"Oh hey, you remember that one night, it was the end of school term so we were out late. We spent the night on that hill watching a meteor shower," Rayna piped up.

"Oh yeah, you mean that one that was hidden away from the city lights so it was easy to see the stars," Luka recalled.

"Yep!" Rayna nodded.

Stargazing could be a bit of a problem around where we were, since we were always in sight of San Francisco. But that one night we had found an isolated hillside that was protected from the lights, and it was awesome.

With that, we all got in Rayna's Skoda Octavia and headed home first to get some gear, then we'd go to the hill.

My phone buzzed with a message, so I picked it out of my pocket to check.

'_**TechyTarlo – 6:03 PM:**__ Mornin', or I guess, evenin' for you xD'_

I smiled. _I guess she got my profile name through Rock._

'_**Echo – 6:03 PM:**__ Hey Rika :* Did you just wake up?'_

'_**TechyTarlo – 6:04 PM:**__ Well, I've been up for a little while, but I had some stuff to do. It's only 11am here'_

'_**Echo – 6:04 PM:**__ Haha nice. It's 6PM here. I'm just heading out for a while with my sister and a couple of friends.'_

'_**TechyTarlo – 6:04 PM:**__ Nani! You have friends!?'_

'_**Echo – 6:04 PM:**__ Oh shut up XD'_

'_**TechyTarlo – 6:04 PM:**__ Hehe :P love ya! Have fun there, I'll see you in the Sleep'_

'_**Echo – 6:04 PM:**__ Okay! Love ya too!'_

I was about to turn my phone off when it was snatched out of my hands by a certain girl in the back seat.

"Well, well, well, looks like little Shaun has a girlfriend," Luka chimed, reading the messages.

I immediately noticed Rayna glance in the mirror to see Miki's reaction.

"H-Hey, give that back!" I pleaded.

"Uh, uh, uh, not until you tell us who TechyTarlo is," the pinkette teased.

"She's someone I met online," I covered.

"Oh? And what's 'I'll see you in the Sleep' mean?"

"U-Uh, the Sleep is what we call the VirtNet, where we meet up in VR," I tried to mislead her.

I noticed Miki's odd look and immediately knew something was off.

_It doesn't look like she's mad or upset…no, it looks like she knows I'm lying. But she's not saying anything…_

"Hey Ray, did you know?" Luka asked.

"Actually found out this afternoon," Rayna replied.

"Well? C'mon Shaun, you're being too slow on giving us details!" Miki smirked.

"Wh-What do you even want to know, she's a gamer around my age from Australia," I said, realising I had no way out and Rayna couldn't save me.

"Australia!? Duude! We gotta meet this chick!" the tealette laughed.

_What more do I say? I can't really say anything else, can I?_

"I'm so calling her right now," Luka said, about to hit the call button on my phone.

"Sorry girls, Shaun's gotta help grab the gear with me. I'll see what I can drill out of him though," Rayna smirked as we pulled up outside our house.

I gulped, snatched my phone back and stepped out of the car, silently thanking Rayna for freeing me from that situation.

"Looked like you needed some help there," she smiled as we entered the house.

"Yes, thank you sis, you are the best," I nodded.

"Well, you owe me,"

"Ehhh what do I owe you this time?"

"Hmmm… Well…" her face flushed bright red. "Remember when we were younger, and I used to sleep in your bed whenever I had nightmares? Can I…maybe…sleep in your bed again? Just once?"

Honestly, after the last time I owed her a favour and she made me do all her chores, I was perfectly fine with this.

"Of course," I smiled.

"Yay," she giggled.

We grabbed the old telescope and the little speaker set we took last time, as well as some blankets. We would have to stop by the shop on the way to grab some food.

When we headed back to the car, I made sure my phone was hidden in my pocket so that Luka or Miki couldn't grab it again.

"Well?" Miki questioned the second we got in the car.

Rayna laughed at her enthusiasm. "Mission failed, we'll get 'em next time,"

I chuckled at the old Call of Duty reference.

"Damn you Shaun and your antisocial ways of being able to avoid conversations," Luka pouted.

"The power of gamers should not be underestimated," I joked.

"Uhuh, well how about you use that gamer power to fill the car up with gas," Rayna smirked, pulling into a gas station.

"No fair, we already decided on what I owe you," I groaned.

She giggled. "Looks like laziness beats all,"

"Why do I put up with you…" I grumbled to myself, though I was smiling.

_I put up with you because you're the best sister ever._

_**Rika Tarlo's POV:**_

"…you're kidding. First it was Sally, now you? Are we the only two in this circle of friends who DON'T have partners!?" Savara whined.

Felix chuckled. "Looks like it, sorry Sav,"

Tarev grabbed my shoulders. "You dare betray us, the loners?!" he said with an overdramatic tone.

I laughed, resting my head on his chest. "Sorry, I joined the dark side here,"

Everyone else were trying to hold back their own laughter at the twins' antics after I told them I had asked Shaun to be my boyfriend.

"Sis, they're stronger than we thought. We might be outmatched here," Tarev turned to Savara.

"I agree, a new plan of action may be required," Savara nodded.

"Well, I didn't really expect you to get along with Shaun so well, Rika," Stella commented.

"Aw really? And why's that?"

"Well, he _is_ awkward as fuck," she laughed.

"Heyyyy that just makes him cuter," I defended.

"I suppose that is true. He can be adorable,"

I teasingly stuck my tongue out at the older girl, before returning to my sandwich.

Due to the amount of time recently spent fighting in the Sleep, we had all decided to take the day off in the Wake. We had met up in Caboolture before catching a bus to Bribie Island, and were now chilling on a secluded part of the beach. The weather was perfect for it too, not a cloud in sight. And the fact that it was an extremely hot Summer day just gave us more of an excuse to go swimming.

_I bet if Shaun knew we were all out here in our swimsuits he'd be pretty jealous,_ I smirked.

I took another look over the Sleeping Knights here. It was a sight that I'm sure many boys and girls would fall head over heels to see, the boys were all shirtless which showed off just how ripped they were. Well, Matt was maybe a bit of an exception, but he still at least had a fairly decently toned body. Of course, Felix was the most impressive of the three boys. He had a super toned body.

_God damn you Stella, you lucky, lucky bastard._

Us girls varied quite a bit in build, from Lara who was slim and nearly flat as a board, to Jane who honestly had the most perfect curvy figure, right up to Sonia who was actually quite busty and a bit chubby despite the clear muscles in her arms. But that just meant there was something for everyone.

_Including super fucking white…god damn Stella, you need to spend more time in the sun._

At least she wasn't as pale as she was in the Sleep. In the Sleep, she was literally white. Like, as white as a ghost. Her colour almost made her look like an undead corpse, especially when combined with the two stitched up cuts on her torso from her first battle in the Sleep.

_A really super attractive corpse…but still…_

I soon finished my sandwich, though was immediately pulled up by Sally.

"Last one in's a rotten qengo," she yelled, running to the water.

"Oh no you don't," I smirked, charging in behind her.

Oh, by the way, a qengo is a fairly common fruit grown around Qeios and Arendelle. Not exactly something you see in the Wake.

"Heyyy, not fair! Cheater!" I whined as Stella Force dashed past both of us and ended up in the water first.

"Gotta keep up," she teased, sticking her tongue out.

"Hah. Matt's the rotten qengo," Savara smirked as everyone else jumped in.

I splashed the rotten qengo, laughing.

"Bastard-oh shit!" he was knocked over by a rather large wave that had been focused on him.

I looked over to Stella who was laughing her arse off.

"Force usage is not allowed…unless it's on Matt, in which case, go right ahead," I teased.

"Heyy! Rikaaaa!" Matt whined, before being bowled over again.

Though he was the one laughing when a real wave came up and bowled Stella over. She came back up spluttering and coughing.

"Karma's a bitch," he smirked, to which Stella simply returned a devilish grin.

I noticed a certain couple who had managed to avoid most of the commotion, and grinned. I dived under the water and crept towards them, jumping up and drenching the two girls.

Jane shrieked in surprise, and Sonia let out a yelp.

"Don't think you're getting away together just because you're married," I smirked.

"Rika?"

"Yes?"

"Behind you,"

I looked behind and was immediately hit by a massive wave. I closed my eyes, not expecting the sudden salt water.

I felt someone catch me as I tumbled through the water, and felt my face land somewhere soft.

Opening my eyes despite a bit of stinging, I realised I was in Sonia's chest.

"Eep!" I yelped, pulling back and dashing away.

Sonia and Jane burst into laughter.

I ended up in Lara's arms a few metres away.

"Hello," she smiled.

"Uh, hey Lara," I giggled, relaxing in her arms.

I heard a yelp from Stella and glanced over to see her being picked up by Felix.

_God those two are cute together._

**!=-{+}-=!**

A few minutes later, I got out of the water. Grabbing my towel and drying off a little, I pulled my phone out of the water-proof bag it was in.

'_**Echo – 2:38 PM:**__ Wish you were here, this is awesome. __**File Attachment: IMG_ **__'_

I opened the image and smiled. They were on a hillside, a super pretty starry sky above them while Shaun and a girl I assumed was his twin sister were using a telescope. Behind them with a soft-drink can in her hands was a teal-haired girl with twin-tails who looked pretty cute. All three figures in the image were rugged up in super thick winter clothing, and there was a light cover of white snow on the ground.

_Damn…I've never actually seen snow in this world… Only on TV and stuff…_

'_**TechyTarlo – 2:46 PM:**__ Looks so pretty! Meanwhile…'_

I opened the camera app and took a picture of the rest of the Knights still splashing around in the water, except for Lara who had followed me out and was laying down in the sun. Unlike his snowy wonderland where it was probably below 0 degrees Celsius, here it was a bothersome 35 degrees.

'_**TechyTarlo – 2:46 PM: File Attachment: IMG_ **__'_

'_**Echo – 2:46 PM:**__ Damn, that looks like fun! Now I'm jealous XD'_

'_**TechyTarlo – 2:46 PM:**__ We both know the real reason you're jealous is because of all the girls swimsuits xD'_

'_**Echo – 2:47 PM:**__ Nononono! O/O Rikaaa!'_

I giggled at his response.

'_**TechyTarlo – 2:47 PM:**__ Oh well, guess I'll enjoy all these girls on my own :P'_

'_**Echo – 2:47 PM: **__C'mon… you're such a tease'_

'_**TechyTarlo – 2:47 PM: **__Hehe I know. Well, I'll let you get back to your stargazing. Love you!'_

'_**Echo – 2:47 PM:**__ Okayyy.. love you too'_

"Lucky," said Lara, who moved up beside me and had noticed the messages.

"Don't tell me you're jealous, you've got Matt!" I laughed.

"Nonono! That's not what I meant! Matt's amazing, I was just saying you're lucky you've also got someone like that," she defended.

"Yeah…hahaha," I smiled.

"Plus, I was also referring to the snow. He's a lucky bastard compared to us right now," she giggled.

"That's also true… Have you ever been in snow? Like, in this world. I know we get snow back in Arendelle and Qeios,"

Lara shook her head. "Nah. Seeing as it doesn't exactly snow in Queensland, we're too close to the equator. And the only time I've been out of the state was out to Lake Ayer. Y'know, in the middle of the desert in South Australia,"

I chuckled. "That's true," I glanced back at Stella. "Meanwhile, our little leader over there teased us all with pictures constantly when she went down to her father's old hometown near Sydney a few years ago,"

"She sure did, she was loving the snow down there," Lara laughed.

Stella had sent many images to our group chat when she went down there. It looked so pretty to be honest…

"Well, at least we live in a country known for its beaches,"

I laughed and agreed.

_**Shaun Bailey's POV:**_

Eventually we got home. It was pretty late, even by my standards, so I pretty much immediately crashed into my bed after taking off my jacket.

I had almost forgotten about my promise earlier, but recalled quickly when Rayna quietly snuck under the covers and curled up next to me.

"Good night, sis," I whispered, putting my arms around her cold frame.

"G'night, bro,"

Now, I knew it usually took a little while for Rayna to sleep. But this time she fell asleep almost instantly.

And to be fair, so did I.

**Dream**

When I awoke, I felt a warmth in my arms similar to when I had fallen asleep with Rayna.

I opened my eyes, expecting to see Rika. Instead, Aisha's red hair filled my vision.

_T-The heck!?_

I carefully got up without waking the demon-girl, and looked around the room.

My eyes landed on a very annoyed Rika sitting on the floor.

"Wh-What…?"

Her eyes narrowed, glaring at the demon on the bed.

"Must have pushed me out of bed in the night. Well, I guess it's better than being killed," she sighed.

She got up, going to leave the room.

"Where are you going?"

"I can't exactly have a sanisteam and get changed in here now can I? You're free to use Stella's sanisteam, I'm gonna go use Felix's," she smirked.

"And Felix…?"

"Eh, he's my cousin. We've shared rooms and all that before on missions, so he's seen me naked," she laughed.

"R-Right… Probably should have expected that,"

She gave a teasing smirk before closing the door and going to Felix's room.

It was then that I heard sheets ruffling and looked behind me.

Aisha had crawled out of bed and was stripping on her way to the refresher.

I quickly averted my gaze.

"What? I don't care," she said, before entering the refresher and I heard the sanisteam turn on.

_Fucking hell, Aisha's gonna get me killed!_

_**Sector 6: The Epic Showdown**_

"Sleeping Knights, you doing okay in Middle Earth there?" Rika asked over the comms as we entered Earth's atmosphere.

"Yeah Rika, don't worry about us. We've kept the Yuuzhan Vong pretty busy," replied Matt.

"Alright, we're gonna head to Montana first. Not sure what Felix and Stella will be doing after that,"

"Okay, j-*static*… be-*static*… us-*static*"

"Matt, come in,"

No reply.

"We're being jammed," Rika quickly deducted.

"Probably by that," Felix said, pointing to a rather large fleet of Yuuzhan Vong ships attacking a huge coastal city.

"Holy hell, they're attacking Accordia! The attack in Middle Earth is a distraction!" Rika panicked.

"Wait, what's Accordia?" I asked.

"Accordia is the trading city on the coast of Qeios. It was built quite recently by Sonia's orders as a way to bring back Qeios' old trade reputation," Felix explained.

"Look, Q-675YA and Arendelle X-Wing. It's Rivatha and Elsa," Rika pointed out.

"Stella, can you hear me," Felix asked over the shuttle's comms.

"Loud and clear, NFrequency seems to be working through the Vong's jamming," Stella replied.

"Alright, we're gonna help Rivatha and Elsa. You up for some combat?"

"Hell yeah, I finally get to see what the _Brunhilde_ can do," she responded enthusiastically.

"Let me out in the city, I'll help from the ground. I just need my powers," Aisha said.

"And to do that you need to kiss me, yeah I know. You talk in your sleep," I sighed.

"O-Oh… I…sorry…" she whispered shyly.

I glanced over at Rika.

"Yeah whatever, if she can help then that's all that matters right now," she nodded.

Aisha and I went back to the _Night Fury_'s ramp, and opened it. We were about to fly over the city.

"Good luck," I said. The demon-girl nodded, kissed me, and jumped out of the shuttle with a bright red glow surrounding her.

As she landed in a group of Yuuzhan Vong, a wave of dark power erupted and burnt all the enemies around her to a crisp.

"Shaun, get back up here for a moment," came Felix's voice over the intercom.

I rushed back to the cockpit.

"Here, take this," he handed me what looked like a commlink. "It's connected to our own frequency which isn't affected by the jamming. You're not gonna be able to do much from here, so you reckon you're okay with joining the Qeios Guardians down there?"

I hesitated, but nodded.

I was a Royal Guard of Montana, I couldn't back down from fear.

"Well then, go get changed," Rika said. She got up from her seat and gave me a quick kiss. "Stay alive, Shaun,"

"I will," I nodded, before going back to my room and quickly changing into my Royal Guard armour.

"I'm ready," I called back as I went back to the ramp.

The _Night Fury_ flew down and momentarily hovered over some Qeios Guardians. I jumped out, unsheathing my sword.

"Where's your TSFs?" I asked one of the Guardians.

"Almost all our forces are occupied in Middle Earth and we have no way of contacting them," he alerted.

"Damn…" I thought for a moment, before using my commlink. "Rika, Felix, go to Montana and talk to the King. Tell them that Shaun Bailey, Knight of the Royal Guard is requesting back-up in Accordia, Qeios. If he doesn't do anything about it, go find Rayna and tell her I need help,"

"Copy that, we'll be back as soon as we can," Felix responded.

"Good luck," Stella said to the two cousins.

"You too, Stel. Same goes for you, Shaun. Don't die," Rika replied.

"Sir, we're being surrounded," a Guardian alerted.

"…Sir?" I questioned.

"Well…you are a member of the Royal Guard, so…without our Commander, you're the highest-ranking soldier here," he noted.

I thought about asking where their Commander was, but decided against it when I realised how many dead Guardians surrounded us.

"Alright then… We have to hold out, help is on its way," I said.

"But Sir! There's too many!"

"You're Qeios Guardians damnit, you're one of the most elite forces on this fucking planet. Act like it!" I yelled.

"Y-Yes Sir!"

_Huh, I guess I _can_ lead troops…_

"Rock, could you clear some of the Yuuzhan Vong around us?" I asked

"Already on it," she replied. The _Brunhilde_ flew overhead and blasted a line of enemies.

There were a few cheers from the Guardians, but it wasn't over yet.

"Come on!" I ordered. I charged forward with a bunch of Guardians following me.

I slashed at one Vong, cutting him down with ease with the sheer strength of my blade. I blocked a blade coming at me, and the owner of it was decapitated by a Qeios Guardian.

I heard two very distinct Starfighters incoming and looked up to see the two Royal Starfighters from Qeios and Arendelle flying overhead on a bombing run, the _Brunhilde_ behind them with its own rockets. I did a quick count of the missiles attached to it.

_7 left, she's used 5 so far…_

"There's more incoming. This is far from over," Stella alerted.

_Great…_

_**Felix Calnore's POV:**_

We landed in the courtyard of the King's Palace in Montana, and predictably were surrounded by Royal Guards.

I led Rika out of the shuttle, where we were met by one of the soldiers.

"We have a request for aid from Shaun Bailey of the Montana Royal Guard," I said.

"Bailey? Where'd he even go?" the solider questioned.

"Where he went is not important right now, what is important is that he's currently attempting to defend Qeios from a Yuuzhan Vong invasion force," Rika butted in.

"Another invasion force?! What about the one in Middle Earth?"

"It was a distraction, I'm afraid. With most of their army across the ocean, Qeios will likely fall," I admitted.

"Then let it," came another voice. I looked up to see none other than the King of Montana.

"The fuck?!" I exclaimed.

"You heard me, boy," he said.

"Excuse me, but if Qeios falls that's a pretty damn big impact on the rest of the planet. They've been defending the whole bloody world from a lot of external threats for years, without them you'll have to deal with forces you never even knew existed!" Rika scolded.

"You overestimate your Kingdom's power," he bellowed.

_Actually, she's not wrong. The only problem is, very few Kingdoms on Earth actually realise how much Qeios defends them. And because of that, no one really knows exactly how strong Qeios is, aside from places like Arendelle and Alfheim._

I put my hand over Rika's mouth before she said anything more.

"Now I see why Rivatha never liked you. Very well then, we'll get reinforcements with or without your help," I said calmly.

We both returned to the bridge of the _Night Fury_ and left the courtyard, but we landed again not far away.

And after only a few minutes, a familiar young girl in Montana Royal Guard armour showed up out of the trees.

"Rayna, good to see you again," I nodded.

"Likewise, Felix. I heard what you said back there, I'm ready to help. And I brought some friends," various people emerged from behind her.

There were Royal Guards, nekos, kitsunes, and some more humans from Zealand and Medicia.

"They were here for a meeting with the King, but I told them about the invasion. They've agreed to help," Rayna smiled.

"Anything to help out our old friends," said a kitsune, who I soon realised was actually the Emperor of West Medoua; Ryota Yoshiro. He had been the leader of the Kitsunes since 1100 BBY, making him about 1200 years old. More or less. He had been present all the way back when United Medoua was formed in 1032 BBY, so he obviously remembered the alliance that Qeios had formed with them to aid against East Medoua.

"E-Emperor Yoshiro!?" Rika stuttered.

"Indeed, young Tarlo. Surprised?" the old kitsune smiled.

"Hey, I'm here too!" came a younger-sounding, more energetic female voice.

Sure enough, the Empress of East Medoua popped out from the crowd. She was a much younger neko, and had a reputation for being rather boisterous.

_Well, I say younger… Nekos don't exactly live anywhere near as long as kitsunes. Their average life-spans are like, 200 years? While the kitsunes' average life-span is 1500?_

But nevertheless, she was still rather young for a neko ruler. She was 68-years-old, and her name was Minako Fumina.

I chuckled at her enthusiasm. "Good to see you too, Minako,"

She grinned, happy to see us again. A few of us had joined Sonia at Minako's coronation about 18 years ago, and she had kept in contact since.

"Most of our forces are occupied in Middle Earth, much like Qeios. But we have a few old TSFs hanging around. These three are probably raring to take their old Type-00 Takemikazuchi's out for a spin," Ryota noted, pointing to three kitsune soldiers who I recognised as Alex Fabled, Serena Echevalier and Saki Haruyama from the West Medoua Navy.

_Wait, those Type-00s still work?! Didn't they help win the war against Zaloudek over 500 years ago? And those three pilots, they're the original test pilots of the Type-00… But I guess that's less of a surprise._

"And we've got a few Atmospheric Fighters left over in the hangar which have just been repaired after last time," Minako added.

"We have some stuff that could prove helpful," said a human from Zealand.

"Yeah same on our end," another human from Medicia.

"Oh, and Felix, here," Rayna chucked a sheathed katana to me. I caught it, passing her sword back to her and clipping the new sheath to my belt.

"Thanks, Rayna,"

"Alright, well, we have no time to waste. Let's head back to Qeios now," Rika said.

I didn't fail to notice the small smile Rayna gave Rika.

"You got it," Minako agreed.

**!=-{+}-=!**

We were soon flying back to Qeios with an army behind us. What was left of the United Medoua military, the Zealand and Medicia militaries, as well as whatever Rayna and her small group of rogue Guards could take from the Montana Military's base without getting caught.

I saw the nearly 630-year-old Type-00F Takemikazuchi Tactical Surface Fighter piloted by Alex Fabled flying next to us, and smirked.

_Those kitsunes sure know how to make a TSF that lasts. Though, it WAS designed by Qeios at the time, sooo…_

"Incoming Silhouette Knights, Zaloudek by the looks of it," came Serena Echevalier's voice.

_Oh yeah, Serena and Alex are originally from Fremmevilla, aren't they._

"Heyo, _Night Fury_!" came a rather familiar voice.

"Amea! Good to see you!" I smiled.

"Same for you, Felix-kun," she replied.

"Listen, Qeios needs help. Stella's already there, reckon you could help an old friend out?" I questioned.

"Stella-senpai is defending Qeios? Lead the way!" the 27-year-old Zaloudekian Queen said eagerly.

And what remained of Zaloudek's Silhouette Knights joined us, with Queen Amea leading them in her own custom Knight, and her personal body-guard, Kaitlyn, close behind.

**!=-{+}-=!**

Not long later, we were coming up on Accordia.

"Stella, we got some friends," I said over the comms, sending out the NFrequency to connect the rest of our little army to it.

"Stella-nee-chan!" Amea exclaimed.

"Amea-chan! God it's been too long," Stella laughed.

"Reporting for duty, Khai-sama," Minako reported.

"Kitsune Warriors, ready for battle," Ryota said.

"The Montana Alliance is prepped and raring to go," Rayna added.

"Rayna! Welcome to hell," joked Shaun.

"I was wondering if you'd end up in hell eventually. Guess you did," she laughed.

_**Rayna Bailey's POV:**_

The troop transport that I was on landed near the front lines, and I led a group of Royal Guards out.

To my surprise, I saw my brother leading a small group of Qeios Guardians against the Yuuzhan Vong not far away.

I made my way over to him with my soldiers.

"Glad you're still alive," I smiled.

"Come now, I wasn't gonna fall to these bastards," he replied.

I stood with my back to my twin, fighting off the waves of Yuuzhan Vong that came at us.

I soon heard a big ship overhead, and glanced upwards when I wasn't fighting.

A large 3,280-foot black cruiser was entering the battle.

"I thought I heard trouble over the NFrequency," came an older male voice.

"Dad! About damn time you showed up," Stella responded.

_Huh, so I guess that's the _Night Fury Guardian_ then._

"Some droids are on their way down, courtesy of Sebastian," Stella's father informed.

The Queen of Zaloudek's TSF landed nearby, and the Queen jumped out, the big mech taking off under AI control. The Queen ignited a blue lightsabre and cleared the Vong around her with a Force blast.

"You're a Jedi?" I questioned.

"Yeah, that's how I know Stella-senpai and the others. They helped me fight off the Dark Side when I was training at the Praxeum," she nodded.

"Well, that's something I didn't know,"

After a few more minutes, I noticed most of the Yuuzhan Vong retreating.

"They're on the run," Queen Rivatha alerted.

"I just got radio contact with the Sleeping Knights, the Vong are retreating from Middle Earth too," Rika said.

"So, we won?" Shaun asked.

"I think so," Empress Minako responded cheerfully.

"That's a victory, good job Guardians," Rivatha told her soldiers.

"Hoorah! Hoorah! Hoorah!" all the Guardians started chanting.

"That's twice now the Yuuzhan Vong have been forced off our planet really quickly. You think they'll learn this time?" I questioned.

"Either way, we've proven that we're a force to reckon with," Queen Elsa replied.

_Wh-Whoa…Queen of Arendelle out of nowhere… Well, actually, Rivatha and Elsa are former Queens, aren't they…_

"Now…" she continued. "Oh Chriiiissss," her voice was sweet, and fucking terrifying.

"U-Uh…y-yes?" Stella's father replied.

"WHERE THE FUCK WERE YOU AND THE REST OF THE VIRTCAST THIS WHOLE DAMN TIME?!" she yelled.

Shaun, Amea and I burst into laughter.

"I would also like to know, _Chris_," Rivatha added, sounding just as dangerous.

"Recalling all droids, we're getting out of here," came the response.

"Not so fast there, _Uncle_," came another voice.

"Welcome to the show, Lara," came Stella's amused voice.

I watched as the _Night Fury Guardian_ tried to escape, but the much bigger _Scarlet Eviscerator_ had it trapped in a tractor beam.

"Thank you, _Scarlet Eviscerator_," Elsa said, and I watched the Royal Arendelle X-Wing fly up to the _Guardian_ with the Royal Q-675YA Starfighter behind it.

I heard the sound of a flame and caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of my eye.

"Watch out!" I tackled Shaun to the ground, and a white and pink scythe passed through where the two of us had been standing a moment ago.

Amea immediately ignited her lightsabre and struck, but the blade fizzled out. She quickly side-stepped the incoming scythe and jumped away.

"Rock, Estella's here," Shaun panicked into his commlink as we both scrambled out of the way.

The next moment, Stella landed next to us, summoning her Black Blade and blocking Estella. Both girls' eyes were alight in bright flames, Stella's left eye in blue and Estella's right eye in pink.

Estella actually cried out in pain in the next moment as a purple blade appeared through her chest.

The red glow that followed revealed a red-haired demon-girl that I assumed was Aisha. Both her eyes erupted in red flames similar to those which were flowing off her hair.

Estella's scythe surprised Aisha though and managed to clip her stomach as she tried to avoid it.

A large cut appeared on the demon's stomach, but she wasn't bleeding. In-fact, the cut healed pretty quickly.

The purple blade was pulled out from Estella's chest, and I was shocked to see the wound heal almost as quickly as Aisha's.

Stella attempted to surprise Estella, but a White Blade appeared and stabbed through her leg. Stella cried out in pain this time.

Shaun drew his sword and almost cut Estella's hand off, driving her back enough that Stella could pull the blade out of her leg. Once again, the wound healed instantly.

_Jesus Christ, these three are way too strong!_

Aisha disappeared, but reappeared a moment later with the scythe stabbed through the right side of her chest. She tripped and fell to her knees, a shocked expression on her face.

I drew my own sword and worked together with Shaun to battle the White Reaper. When he blocked, I attacked, and vice versa. Though our attacks were usually blocked by the other end of the scythe.

A Force blast hit me, and I went flying back, landing next to Aisha.

I watched as Stella's blade moved in at supersonic speeds and still was blocked by Estella. A familiar katana ended up caught on the scythe as Felix joined the battle.

I glanced back at Aisha, just in time to see her vanish.

_The hell?_

I felt a hand grab me and suddenly the world went fuzzy, and Aisha reappeared with her hand on my arm.

"Invisibility, a rare trait that some of my kind have," she explained when she noticed my confused look. "We'll go in together, surprise her from behind again, 'kay?"

I nodded.

We snuck around the fight and approached the four fighters from behind.

_Now,_ came Aisha's voice in my head.

We both went for the kill on Estella. But it didn't work. My blade was pushed aside and I was punched in the face, stumbling back and reappearing to everyone else as I fell on my butt.

At the same time, Aisha had the back-end of the scythe stabbed through where a human's heart would be.

_Do demons have their hearts there? Actually, better question. Do demons have hearts?_

I assumed the answer in Aisha's case was yes, considering the look of pain and shock on her face. She was Force blasted back and crashed into the ground, her glow and flames dissipating as she lay there, completely motionless.

I rushed over to her side, ignoring the blood pouring from my nose.

"Aisha!"

After a few worrying seconds, the demon-girl coughed, a bit of blood seeping out from her mouth and dripping down her chin.

"Tch, she's tougher than I expected," Aisha groaned.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, that was just a scratch. Might take a little while to recover my strength though, I've used up all my power just to stay alive against her," she managed to say weakly.

Rika skidded to a halt next to us. "Take it easy, Aisha," she said.

…_didn't Aisha try to kill Rika?_

"…kay…"

I glanced back at the fight. Shaun was already standing off to the side, panting.

_Hang in there, Stella and Felix…_

_**Stella Khai's POV:**_

_Damn!_

I suffered another cut to my arm. Even if it healed quickly, I would have preferred to not be getting all these cuts.

But at this point, I was fairly certain the only way to kill Estella would have been to decapitate her. Since that's really the only way to kill me.

I pushed the scythe around and almost managed to get her, but the back of the scythe blocked me once more. Felix spiralled around and managed to cut her torso with his katana, though of course it was healed instantly.

_Wait, I have an idea…_

Almost as if she was giving me a chance, Felix was blasted away. I dashed backwards at supersonic speeds and managed to summon my giant cannon. Without a pause, I charged the cannon and sent a blast at Estella.

Where she had been standing exploded, but she had jumped up. Wasting no time, I forced myself up into the air and batted Estella down with the cannon. She hit the ground, hard, and I used the Force to dash downwards with my Black Blade aimed at her heart. Thankfully, Estella was too stunned to move and my blade went straight through her.

She glared at me, eyes glowing pink, though I could see the pain on her face.

"I'm Black Rock Shooter, you can't take that away," I snarled. Within a split second, my blade had moved out of her chest and came straight across her neck.

_Fucking finally._

Her head rolled off to the side after spurting blood all over me.

"…you did it…" came Shaun's exhausted voice.

I smirked. "Course I did, I am 23 years older than her,"

"You're also covered in blood," Felix pointed out.

"Comes with the job," I joked, shrugging.

"I think it suits you," Aisha commented, though rather weakly.

I chuckled. "Well, you _are_ a demon,"

"Your point?" she returned.

"I imagine seeing this sort of thing isn't uncommon for you,"

She just laughed. "You're not wrong,"

Amea came over and _almost_ threw her arms around me, but decided against it when she realised how much blood was on me.

"I'm so happy you're okay, Stella-nee-chan!" she smiled.

"I'm glad you managed to avoid getting killed there, Amea," I nodded, returning the smile.

A few other transporters that were heading back from Middle Earth landed at the scene after seeing the smoke and destruction in Accordia, with a Hanamuran transporter landing near us.

Some soldiers from Hanamura came out in the familiar Attack On Titan-styled uniforms and weapons.

"What happened here?" questioned an older soldier who I assumed was this group's Commander.

"Vong attack, they used Middle Earth as a distraction. We managed to fend them off though," Rika explained.

Out of the fifteen soldiers, I felt a wave of recognition from one of them. It appeared to be coming from a teal-haired girl with twin-tails.

"M-Miki…?" I heard Shaun.

_Oh… How many times have I said 'what are the chances' around Shaun…?_

"Shaun? Rayna?" the tealette questioned.

_**Shaun Bailey's POV:**_

"Shaun? Rayna?" Miki questioned, completely shocked.

_Miki's in the Dream!? What?!_

I then recalled the way she looked at me when I lied about what the Sleep was.

_Oh…she knew, didn't she…_

I glanced next to me at Rika who had come over to make sure I was alright.

_This is going to be interesting…_

"…can we at least get on the _Scarlet Eviscerator_ or something? This blood is getting uncomfortable," said Stella.

"Yeah…I think that's best…" Rayna agreed.

**!=-{+}-=!**

I sat next to Rika in a comfortable entertainment room aboard the _Scarlet Eviscerator_ with Rayna and Miki sitting in the other sofa.

"So how long have you been coming here…?" Rayna asked Miki.

"Since I was 7. My mother enters the Dream too," the tealette answered. "What about you two?"

"Same story, basically," I nodded.

Rika seemed to be scanning Miki over, and I was slightly worried as to why. But…

"Oohhhh, I was wondering why you looked familiar. Shaun sent me a picture of you guys Stargazing and you were in the background," she finally said.

Miki looked up, surprised.

"Wait, when did…oh…Luka did take a picture with your phone, didn't she?" she realised.

"Yeah, she was the one that sent it to Rika. I didn't even know until Rika messaged me," I admitted.

Miki giggled slightly. "Looks like we're still having to look out for you,"

"Mikiiii, that's no fair," I pouted. Rika and Rayna joined in the giggling.

"Now that I think about it, this is the first time I've actually seen you, Rika. I _did_ snatch Shaun's phone away and see the image you sent him, but you weren't in it," Miki smiled.

"Y-You- MIKI!" I jumped up and tried to tackle her. She moved, and I crashed into the chair.

When I recovered, I saw her on the other sofa with her arms around Rika's neck, sticking her tongue out at me.

Rika was laughing as she happily accepted Miki's hug.

"I did however recognise that the people who _were_ in the image were Sleeping Knights, so I had a pretty good idea of who you may have been," Miki continued.

"I have to say, I never expected Shaun to end up in a group like theirs," Rayna joked.

"Me neither, he's wayyy too shy," Miki teased.

"Well he _almost_ ended up with a Yandere demon," Rika smirked.

"Jesus, Shaun. A demon? Now I'm glad Rika took you," Miki laughed.

I groaned, then thought about something. "Speaking of, where is Aisha?"

"She's in the med-bay. Her demon physiology should heal her eventually, but at least she can relax down there," Rika explained.

"At least she's okay," Rayna sighed.

I nodded in agreement. She may have been a bit yandere, but she was still a nice girl.

There was a moment of silence.

"I feel like a drink," Miki piped up.

Rayna seemed to notice something and got up. "I'll go see if I can get something for us. Shaun, you wanna come with me? You know the ship better than I do,"

I knew Miki and Rayna were working together in some way, and I assumed Miki just wanted to talk to Rika alone.

_Here's hoping Miki doesn't go full yandere either._

I got up anyway. "Sure,"

The two of us left the room. "I shouldn't be doing this, but I also don't know how Miki's gonna react. So, if you want, you can stay here and make sure nothing happens. I can find my way around the ship," Rayna told me.

"O-Okay…"

_I'm not sure whose side Rayna's on right now…_

Before she went off on her own, I remembered something that Stella had shown me and hit a button on the wall. A droid beamed in front of us.

"_Scarlet Eviscerator_ navigation, where would you like to go?"

"Cafeteria," I said.

"Cafeteria, location unknown. Did you mean; food court?"

"Yes, alright, food court. Damn Australians," I groaned.

Rayna chuckled and followed the droid to get some drinks while I kept quiet outside the door.

Curiosity got the better of me though, and I couldn't help but listen to what was said inside.

"So…just out of curiosity, you said 'now I'm glad Rika took you.' Is it okay if I ask…do you like Shaun too…?" I heard Rika ask.

_Oh no…_

There was a pause.

"W-Well… I've known Shaun since 1st grade, so I guess I've had plenty of time to fall for him… I guess…yeah…I suppose I do…O-Oh, b-but I don't want to break you two up…I just…" I heard a sniffle, and assumed Miki was crying. "Just…make sure you take care of him, okay? He can be pretty hopeless when left alone, so please take care of him," she finished.

_Come on Miki, I'm not that hopeless…well…okay, I guess I can be…_

A small chuckle from Rika was followed by movement. "I'll do my best. I think being around the Sleeping Knights might be pretty good for him honestly. But yeah, don't worry. I'll take good care of him," she said quietly.

_Geeze…wait a second, isn't Rika a Jedi? So…_

"Heard what you wanted, Shaun?"

I gulped.

The door opened, and both girls were standing there. Rika with an amused smirk on her face, while Miki looked like a mixture of embarrassed and pissed off.

"S-Sorry…" I quietly let out.

"Jerk," Miki huffed.

"M-Miki…last time I left a girl who also liked me alone with Rika, she tried to kill her…so…" I tried to defend.

"…you're a complete idiot…"

"Y-Yeah…I know…"

Miki suddenly froze up. "Wait…did you just…you knew…?"

_Ah crap, Rayna wasn't supposed to tell me, was she…_

"Might wanna run, Shaun," Rika chimed.

Miki was bright red, glaring daggers at me.

"R-Right,"

I sprinted off down the halls.

"Get back here, Shaun Jackson Bailey!" Miki shouted.

I ducked and weaved around the corridors, diving into a room when I thought I might have gotten far enough ahead of Miki.

_Oh…shit…I'm dead…_

In front of me was Stella, her normally white face completely red. And her normally cloak-clad body…in her underwear…

Oh, Queen Amea was also in the room, but I wasn't quite as focused on her. If I had been, I might have wondered why this situation was occurring. But I had other things to worry about…

"Y-You…"

I gulped.

"Chijo hentai!" Stella yelled in Japanese, slapping me so hard I fell backwards out of the room.

Where Miki was waiting.

_Fuck…me…_

It was then that Aisha came around the corner. Seeing the two pissed girls, she acted quickly, grabbing my arm and dragging me away at speed.

She dragged me around a corner, briefly kissed me to gain her powers, and suddenly the world around went all hazy.

Miki almost went past, but Stella held her back. She looked directly at us, eye flame igniting.

"That's the best you've got…?" she questioned the demon-girl.

"Wait, what?" Miki asked.

"Shit, you can see through invisibility?" Aisha cursed.

"Huh…now that's something I didn't know," Stella noted.

"Oh, the demon can turn invisible, can she?" Miki groaned.

Stella grabbed me by the collar, ripping me away from Aisha. The world returned to normal, meaning I was no longer invisible.

Rika and Rayna came around the corner, surprised to see Stella holding me.

"…what happened this time…" Rayna asked.

"_Echo_ came into my room while I was changing," Stella accused.

"…Shaun…you idiot…" Rayna sighed.

"I was trying to escape Miki! I didn't know that was Stella's room!" I tried to defend.

Amea was giggling to herself off to the side.

"Alright, I think you've gotten into enough trouble," Rika chuckled, before using the Force to drag me out of Stella's grasp.

"_Run to my room_," she whispered.

I had never run so fast in my life. I navigated the halls once more from memory, finally coming to Rika's room. Rika had kept up with me the whole time, and while Stella was faster, Rika's clever use of the Force kept the older girl from reaching us.

Rika closed and locked the door, focusing on the locking mechanism with the Force to make sure Stella didn't unlock it.

"Rika you little…open up!" Stella yelled. "Aisha!"

_Oh right, she was still invisible…_

Sure enough, the demon-girl appeared in front of me.

"Oh come on," I groaned.

"Well…I'm not going to give you to her, so I guess I'm helping to keep the door shut," Aisha noted nonchalantly.

"_Thank you_," Rika said.

Soon, Stella gave up and went away.

"Finally…" Rika panted. Keeping the door from being opened by Stella, who was much stronger than her, had been really exhausting for her. "So, did you really walk in on Stella naked?"

I turned away, embarrassed.

"More or less…" I grumbled.

Rika laughed. "My god Shaun, how do you manage to get in that much trouble,"

"I don't know…"

"Walking in on Stella was pretty bad, but the fact that you managed to survive until I showed up is impressive. I'm not sure if I want to kiss you or shove you off a catwalk in the centre of the ship for being so reckless," Rika smirked.

"…can I choose?" I said, hopefully.

She just smiled, shaking her head. "Except I already know what you're going to choose,"

The brown-haired tech expert sat on my lap and kissed me.

I then remembered Aisha.

"U-Umm…"

Aisha looked…slightly psychotic at the moment.

"…crap…" Rika cursed under her breath.

Fortunately for us, as soon as she tried to summon her weapon, her power fizzled out.

"…next time," she whispered, before leaving and presumably going back to the med-bay to rest.

"Well, this has been an eventful evening…" I commented.

Rika and I looked at each other, before both bursting into laughter.

"It sure has been."

_**Sector 7: Consequences**_

_**Rika Tarlo's POV:**_

I woke up with a yawn, smiling at the fact that I hadn't been pushed out of bed by a certain red-headed demon and was still in a sleeping Shaun's arms.

During my day in the Wake, I had to go to work, so I still wasn't sure what Stella was going to say when I saw her again. But hey, I knew her well enough to know she didn't keep grudges among friends and that whole thing yesterday was likely just her playing around.

Well, partly her playing around. Pretty sure she genuinely was pissed at Shaun there.

Anyway, I got up to have a Sanisteam before heading to our main hang-out / planning room, leaving a note for Shaun to know where we were.

When I walked in, I saw most of the Knights chilling around the room. Lara and Matt were cuddled up playing video games together, Sally and Connor were…well, I never expected Sally to be the one making out with her boyfriend here…but I guess she's surprised us all recently. The twins were having some sort of competition, which I didn't really bother paying attention to, and Stella was on a couch with Amea cuddled up to her, the two best friends chatting about things that had happened since they last saw each other. I guess Amea's body-guard was either elsewhere on the ship, or had been sent back to Zaloudek.

I had assumed Rayna and Miki might still be asleep, but I was proven wrong when I saw them chatting in a corner.

I also hadn't expected to see the neko Empress, Minako chilling with Lyla.

I was about to go over to Rayna and Miki when I was Force pulled onto the couch next to Stella.

"You know I'm still annoyed with yesterday, but I gotta say, good job on holding me back," the black-haired girl smirked.

"Just don't kill Shaun when he comes here," I laughed.

"Eh, I used to wear super skimpy clothing all the time. Not really that much of an issue," she admitted.

"That is…very true," I chuckled. "Probably lucky Shaun wasn't around you before. He would have been super awkward,"

"Eh, I liked it," Amea commented.

"…of course," Stella facepalmed, chuckling.

"Is there something between you two that we don't know about?" I inquired, smirking.

"Nah, Stella-chan is loyal to Felix-kun. I'm just here for the fun of it since things always seem to be interesting around Stel," the Queen giggled.

"Good, so I don't have to kick Stella-chan's ass," I noted.

"Heh, good luck on doing that even if you did have to…though…admittedly, right now I'm pretty weak in the Wake after fighting Estella. I sustained enough injuries here that, while they were healed by my powers here, it affected me over there," Stella sighed.

"It hurt you in the Wake?" Amea asked, worry in her voice.

_Amea knows about the Wake?_

Stella chuckled. "Yeah, when we get injured here, it can carry over. It's not quite as bad, though I've heard it's worse for Sonia since she's farther down the line of her family who can enter the Sleep than we are. I'm only the second generation, so it's not too bad," she explained.

Amea rested her head on Stella's shoulder. "I wanna go back to the Wake again. We had so much fun together that first time," she smiled.

"…you took Amea to the Wake?" I questioned.

"Years ago, yeah. Remember when she was having trouble with the Dark Side? She was worried about her friend, so I took her to our world to check on him," Stella nodded.

"Now that I think about it, Caden-kun's injuries also transferred over, didn't they?" Amea realised.

"Mhm, but don't feel guilty, he never blamed you for anything," Stella reassured.

"I know. I kinda miss Caden-kun though, it's been so long since I've seen him," Amea sighed.

"Looks like we're taking a trip to Felixstowe," Stella laughed.

Amea sat up, looking at Stella in surprise.

"You mean it?!"

I laughed at her reaction, and Stella nodded.

"Hell yeah. In-fact, Rika, take Amea and the _Night Fury_ to my place in the Wake tonight. I could use the exercise over there," Stella smiled.

"You got it, Stel," I smirked.

It was then that Shaun entered the room with Aisha next to him.

_Can't keep off him, can she?_

Shaun paused when he noticed Stella.

"Chill, you're safe," Stella laughed.

He sighed in relief.

"So, with this clone of Stella dead, we just need to deal with the Yuuzhan Vong and the Jedi," came Sonia's voice as her and her wife entered the room.

"Guessing things went wrong with your mission," Stella noted.

"Unfortunately, our cover was blown by one of the younglings. We had to-"

"It was my fault. If I hadn't snapped and tried to protect Connor, the youngling wouldn't have told the Jedi that we were lying," Sally interrupted Jane.

"Sally, don't blame yourself. We're all perfectly aware of what's happened to you recently, we were completely aware that you may have issues on the mission. It was a risk we took, and honestly? I think we'd all readily take that risk again at any time," Lyla spoke up, much to our surprise.

Stella looked between the Queens and Sally, before standing up and going over to the young Knight.

"Sal, I sent you on the mission as a way to clear your mind. It's actually a good thing that you snapped and came back, it means whatever you were holding back shouldn't affect you as much. Look, I know what you're going through. Remember I had to help Amea through something similar about ten years ago, and I also helped Felix through this exact same thing nearly five years ago. Admittedly, he took it worse and we both were under the control of a demonic artefact, _and_ I had to snap him out of it by hitting him in the head. _Really hard._ And I didn't want to have to do that to you," she explained.

"…well, I guess I'm thankful…but that doesn't mean I feel any better about it," Sally whimpered.

"I know, but right now, I need you. We, need you. You can vent all you want on us, we'll deal with it," Stella whispered.

"Sal, we're all here for you," Connor added.

The brown-haired girl smiled a weak smile, before nodding.

"Thanks, you guys,"

Shaun leaned in next to me. "What happened with the Jedi?" he whispered.

"We're no longer with the Jedi," Stella said, apparently hearing him. "The Knights' true mission back there was to save the younglings, I just didn't want to tell you because most people aren't exactly gonna take the fact that we've betrayed the Jedi Order lightly,"

"Unfortunately, we failed the mission. The Vong attack came up at the wrong time," Sonia commented.

"Well then why are we sitting around here? If the younglings are in danger then we should go help them, right?" Rayna said.

"Wait, Stella-chan, remember those Fate Of The Jedi books you let me read?" Amea spoke up.

"Yeah, kinda. I think I know what you're talking about, though it's been ages since I read them admittedly," Stella nodded.

"There was that whole thing about the younglings who had been at Shelter in The Maw during the Yuuzhan Vong war. How they were under Abeloth's control and went kinda crazy," Amea continued.

"Fuck! How the hell did I forget that! THAT'S why the younglings were in danger! UGH! I should have realised that, I'm sorry," Stella groaned.

"…Styra was on that ship," Lyla realised.

We all froze.

"…which means Styra is in The Maw now…" I quickly put two and two together and realised that one of our own was in trouble.

"We need to go, now," Sonia noted, quickly making her way to the bridge. We all followed her.

"Looks like the Sleeping Knights have a few more temporary members this time, welcome to the team, Rayna, Miki, Aisha, Connor, Minako and Amea," Stella commented.

Sally caught up, tugging at Stella's sleeve. "You had to punch Felix, but how'd you get Amea back from the Dark Side?" she asked.

"Oh...um…that's…" Stella seemed unable to say it, which made me realise that there might have actually been something between the two girls back then.

"I see, well, you coulda done that for me," Sally teased, before running off.

"…hell no…" was all I heard Stella say. Amea burst into laughter.

_Good to see Sally's back to her old self._

_**Stella Khai's POV:**_

_I'm pretty sure Sally thought I was talking about something else…but perhaps that's a good thing._ I sighed as I entered the bridge.

'_Well, I doubt they'd really care if they knew,'_ came Amea's voice in my head.

_Probably not. But still, that was a pretty big decision for us._

'_What, you havin second thoughts after ten years, Onee-chan?' _I glanced back at the younger girl, who was pouting.

_Of course not. Knowing you were safe all these years was completely worth it. I'd never change what we did._

'_Good, because if you remember correctly, it was an unbreakable spell. We're connected for life. Well, aside from that one time when Deathbringer interrupted our connection…but hopefully that'll never happen again. We'll always be together,'_

I simply smiled at the Queen with whom I had connected with using a magic spell, about ten years ago. _Until the end, sister._

'_Until the end. I love you,'_

"Alright, plotting a course to The Maw," said Rika.

And so, the _Scarlet Eviscerator_ entered hyperspace.

I walked over to Lara and sat beside the younger girl. "You feeling better?" I asked.

She smiled and nodded. "Yeah, and by the sounds of it, you killed Estella huh?"

"Yep, I got her back for doing what she did to you," I chuckled.

I noticed her expression slightly drop, and put my arms around her.

I was slightly surprised to hear a quiet whimper from her and feel her body trembling.

_Is she crying?_

"What's wrong, Lara?" I quietly questioned, pulling back to look directly into her red eyes.

"…I was so scared… When she captured me, it was so scary…the whole time I was hoping that you'd come and save me…" the blue-haired girl sobbed.

I pulled her back into my arms and hugged her protectively.

"I'm so sorry…Lara…I failed…"

She shook her head. "No, you saved me in the end…you didn't fail,"

"But she hurt you,"

"Yeah, she did. But I'm a Sleeping Knight, getting hurt kinda comes in the job description. Still though…being tortured like that was…" she trailed off.

"I can't imagine how scary and painful that would have been…" I groaned.

"It was very painful…and yeah, very scary…I'm not sure that I'll get over it any time soon, but I'm glad that I'm here with you again…"

We sat like that for a while until Rayna came over to us.

"Glad to see you back on your feet," she said. The last time she had seen Lara was when she was unconscious during my first fight against Estella.

Lara seemed a little confused, since she didn't know Rayna had helped her.

I just chuckled at her expression. "When I got you from Estella, Rayna and Shaun helped to take care of you until we got back to the _Scarlet Eviscerator_,"

"Oohh, well, thanks for that. I'm doing a lot better now," she smiled.

"That reminds me, Estella broke your lightsabre, didn't she?" I realised. Lara nodded. "Oi, Felix,"

My boyfriend walked over to us at my call. "What's up?"

"You're not using your sabre anymore, right? Since you've got that katana now," I noted.

"Indeed, this blade actually feels more comfortable than the lightsabre thanks to the weight. So I won't be going back to my old sabre," he nodded.

"Well, my young little cousin here is in need of a new blade. Mind if she uses yours?"

"You say young but she's not even a year younger than me. But yeah, take it," he laughed.

He tossed the sword hilt towards Lara, who caught it.

"It's basically the Master Sword from Legend of Zelda, though in lightsabre form. Might take a bit of getting used to compared to your more normal-styled sabre," Felix commented.

"Actually if you want to get technical, it's a broadsabre and all she really has to learn is Shii-Cho, which is pretty basic," I noted.

"Oh well, I've got plenty of time to practise… The medical team doesn't exactly want me in combat for a while," Lara sighed.

"That's for the best. You can help out a lot just by being on the _Eviscerator_ anyway, so take your time," I gently assured her.

"Yeah… I guess it's also good to have a break from fighting the Yuuzhan Vong," she agreed.

"Yeah, if anything, you're lucky," joked Rika who had overheard the conversation.

"You'll just have to do double the work to make up for me," she smirked at her best friend.

"Oh come on, why do I have to do that! Why can't Amea or someone take your place!" Rika groaned.

"Because I am a Queen," Amea teased, poking her tongue out at her.

"Don't forget I'm the one taking you to the Wake later, Queeny," Rika took Amea into a headlock, giggling.

_You're helping us either way._ I giggled to myself.

'_Fiiiine,_' Amea replied exasperatedly in my mind.

"Alright, alright! I get it Rika!" she laughed out loud.

Rika let go of Amea, who got her revenge by tackling the techy girl onto the couch.

"Damn you're strong," Rika laughed.

"Is this…normal?" Rayna questioned.

"When Amea is around? Yeah, this is completely normal," I chuckled.

'_You love it, Nee-chan,_'

_Of course._

_**Amea Nerriss' POV:**_

Stella had just gone to bed and I was sitting in the _Night Fury_'s cockpit.

Rika eventually came in behind and sat in the pilot's seat.

"It's been a while since I've been to your world," I sighed, helping her with the pre-flight checks.

"When was the last time you went?" Rika asked.

I recalled back to the days when I first went with Stella to her world, which happened to also be when I found out I was actually a Princess. "Well, probably almost 10 years ago now. You guys were fighting Lachie Ren. At some stage you guys came back to the Praxeum to train. That was the time I was struggling with the Dark Side, so Stella tried to help me. She took me to your world to cheer me up, and it kinda worked. I went again a few times after but…ever since I became Queen, I haven't had the time to do so,"

She glanced at me. "So that's what brought you back to the Light? Or did she do something else, because the way she spoke of it to Sally made me think something else was going on between you two,"

_Should I tell her…?_

I wasn't quite sure after what Stella had said earlier.

'_I say do it. If she's doing this for us, she may as well know why,_' came the reply from the girl in question.

"Actually, the reason she didn't want to do it with Sally is because we used magic to help me. An unbreakable spell usually used on twins in Neko culture. It connects us mentally, allowing us to communicate and know when the other is in danger. Basically, she's my sister through magic," I hesitantly explained.

That certainly caught Rika's attention.

"You're…connected to her? For the rest of your lives? So she's aware of this conversation? What's that like? Doesn't it get a bit awkward?" Rika bombarded me with questions, and I had to throw a stuffed fox at her to get her to stop. (The fox was a toy of Stella's usually kept in her room, though I had found it under her bed.)

"Yes, yes, mostly, it's comforting, and maybe occasionally but after 10 years it doesn't really bother us anymore," I answered each question while sensing the amused giggling that was going on in Stella's mind.

"Interesting…" then she seemed to realise something, and my instincts told me I probably should have run at that point. But we had just taken off and hiding on the _Night Fury_ was impossible against a fellow Force user. "So, Amea, I hope you haven't been trying to peek at my cousin while Stella's been with him," she smiled, though I could sense the slight poison behind her words.

_Has she always been the protective older cousin?_

'_Sometimes, yeah,_'

"I promise I have no interest in your cousin. Felix is kind but not really my type. Besides, I can only sense what she's thinking, I can't see or hear what she does," I tried to cover.

It was…mostly the truth. Of course, I had always been more attracted to Stella than Felix, but I couldn't deny his charm. But the part about not being able to see or hear was correct, Stella only knew what Rika was saying right now because I was telling her.

Rika looked at me for a moment longer, but burst into laughter in a few seconds. "Did I really scare you that much?" she giggled.

_For kriffs sake._

"You're a Sleeping Knight, you're always scary," I joked.

"Aww come on, your sister's a Sleeping Knight too!" she reminded.

"Yes, she is. And even she's terrifying sometimes," I laughed.

Rika also laughed, sitting back in her chair as she put the shuttle into hyperspace. "Don't I know it. You know she almost killed me when Lachie attacked the Praxeum? I had to skip out on school for multiple weeks,"

"Yikes, that was when I left for Earth. Maybe I should have stayed," I noted.

_What did you do to her…?_

'_I…might have sliced her with my lightsabre because I thought she was Lachie…_'

…_scary…_

We were going to be in hyperspace for a few minutes at least, so I sat back and reminisced on what had happened 10 years ago.

**17 ABY; 2054 Earth Time **_**(Flashback)**_

"_Sanctendio Virtempra Demulus Noctectus_," I chanted, letting the power flow out of me as Stella was surrounded by a ball of dark magic.

"Oh hell no," she yelled, and suddenly the magic dissipated around her, her eye flame burning brighter than I had ever seen it. "You are _not_ using dark magic on me, Amea Nerriss. And I'm sure as hell not letting you fall victim to the Dark Side,"

I grabbed her in the Force, trying to choke her, but was interrupted by another blast sending me into the wall. I looked up to see Caden.

"Nor am I," he said.

I tried to charge at Caden, but felt my body get forced down. Stella wasn't letting me move, and as she approached me, she forced the lightsabre out of my hand.

"I won't let go of you, Amea," the pale girl whispered, before surprising me by locking her lips onto mine. First thing I noticed was her lips were a lot colder in this body compared to her Wake-self. Then again, her whole body was a lower temperature here.

Even so, the unexpected kiss was…calming. And sure enough, I felt the darkness and malice fading away.

A small moan escaped her, and I embarrassingly realised that she was no longer holding me down in the Force and my hand had moved up her body.

I pulled back, blushing hard.

"I'm never letting you go. Even if I'm across the galaxy, or in another realm, I'll always be with you. So please trust me. If you ever feel the pull to the dark, just remember the love I feel for you. It's…kinda hard to explain but…let me show you," Stella whispered in my ear.

She took my hand and lead me back to the _Night Fury_, telling Caden to wait outside.

"…so what are you going to show me?" I quietly asked.

She gently brushed my hair away, smiling. "This,"

Suddenly, the world warped and I was…in Stella's mind?

It was then that I realised what she meant. What she felt.

She was loyal to Felix, she loved him as her boyfriend and hopefully her future husband, but what she felt for me was a different type of love. An even stronger love.

_A…sister…? She…really believes that…?_

It wasn't like when girls just call their best friends their sisters because they're really good friends, it was genuine sisterly love. And honestly? That made me even more happy than I thought I could be at the moment.

"You don't just mean the world to me, you mean the galaxy to me, Amea," Stella grinned, bringing me back to reality.

"And you mean just as much to me, Stella," I smiled, holding her hand.

"…you know…I really do want to be there for you as much as I can, despite what I have to do across the galaxy and realms," she whispered.

I thought for a moment, suddenly recalling a spell that I had found in a book that I technically wasn't supposed to be reading at the time.

_Well…maybe she'd go for it?_

"Stel… I might have a way to actually do that…if you're willing, that is," I quietly said.

She looked at me curiously.

"…just…look in my mind for a second,"

The blue flame on her left eye ignited in its dull state and I felt her looking at my thoughts.

She slowly opened her eyes again, and I was slightly worried for a second.

Until a smile appeared on her lips.

"That spell…that's actually awesome," she giggled.

I smiled. "Y-Yeah…it's normally used on twins in Neko culture…but it works on people like us too…a way to always be connected,"

"Well, I'd be honoured," she smiled warmly.

"R-Really!?" I exclaimed, pleasantly surprised.

"Yeah. And yes, I did see the part where it said the spell can't be broken. But I get the feeling we're both about to become pretty busy, so knowing you're safe no matter what will be comforting. Plus, our combined powers should prevent either of us from turning," she nodded.

"I guess I feel the same way there," I smiled, blushing.

"Well, I guess I'll leave it up to you, magic girl," she smirked.

I took a deep breath. The spell I was about to do wasn't exactly small. As mentioned earlier, it can't be broken. It's a connection for life.

I gave the older girl one more look, which was met by her own slightly nervous yet warm expression.

It was enough to give me confidence, and I took both her hands in my own.

The words of the spell slipped from my mouth and I concentrated on the magic and my mana. A light began emanating from our hands, and as I focused more mana into it, the light spread. It spread until it covered our entire bodies.

It got brighter and brighter, until suddenly it flashed and faded away.

I looked into Stella's eyes, and she gazed back into mine.

…_it worked…_ I thought.

'_Yeah…it did…'_ Stella smiled.

I pulled the twin-tailed girl into my arms, holding her close. She happily returned the gesture. I could feel her happiness.

**27 ABY; 2064 Earth Time**_** (Present Time)**_

**Wake**

_That spell used up so much of my mana at the time…but it was completely worth it._

We dropped out of hyperspace over the alternate Earth that the Sleeping Knights all lived on and Rika guided us down to Australia.

The shuttle landed outside a house I assumed was Stella's, and we both disembarked.

Rika knocked on the front door. When it opened, I was lightly surprised to see Felix standing before us.

"Hey Amea, hey Cuz. Stella's on her computer doing some daily stuff in MMOs right now. Come in," he said.

"I've actually got something else to do, so I'll be leaving Amea here," Rika noted.

"You know Stella-chan asked for the _Night Fury_ too, right?" I reminded.

"Yeah I know, good thing I brought my X-Wing," she smirked, pointing back at the shuttle. I now noticed the fighter attached to the rear hatch.

"I thought you gave that to Matt?" Felix questioned.

"I did, but he let me use it again for the moment," she nodded.

"Fair enough. Well, good luck," he smiled, and turned to me. "As for you, Amea, Stella's in her office. Just down the hall there. I'm gonna make breakfast right now if you're hungry,"

"Alright, thanks Felix-kun!"

As Rika went back to her fighter, I made my way to where I could sense Stella's presence.

"Really cunt? Do you not realise I'm twice your fucking level? Perhaps don't try to kill players in the enemy faction unless you can hold out in a fight against level 60s, bitch," came the girl's voice when I found her room.

"For an injured girl, you seem pretty lively," I commented, putting my arms around her neck from behind.

She giggled. "Hey Amea! Yeah, well, some cunt decided it was a good idea to attack me despite the fact that I'm at the game's level cap and he's at level 27 while I'm doing faction quests. But I guess that's just the nature of Blade & Soul Remastered's players,"

"I still have no idea what you're talking about, Stel," I laughed.

Stella turned around to face me, taking her headset off.

It's been about 9 years since I last saw her in this world, and while she was definitely older, she had barely changed from when she was 18. She still looked far more energetic, younger, healthier and more innocent than the Stella I was used to in the Dream Realm. Even her hair was still shorter and done in a cute pony-tail rather than her usual twin-tails.

I also noticed cuts and bruises covering her arms, neck and the exposed part of her upper-chest.

She pulled me in to a tight hug, which I happily returned.

Though when I looked at her desk, I noticed something odd. When she pulled away again, I reached out and grabbed a bottle of what appeared to be alcohol which was labelled as Jim Beam's whiskey, and it was nearly empty. I looked at her questioningly.

"What? I needed it, I've been way too stressed out with everything going on. But I promise I'm not an alcoholic, in-fact I rarely ever drink that stuff," she defended.

I sighed, shaking my head. "Geeze, Stel… You're really making me worried,"

She looked down guiltily. '_Sorry… But I really am fine, it's just…dealing with the Vong, Estella and now the Jedi… It just got a bit much, but I'm fine now, I promise,_'

It was unusual even for me to see Stella so vulnerable. I took her hand and pulled her to her feet, wrapping my arms around her again.

"You need to take a break. And I'm not talking about just a day off, you need to chill out for a few weeks at least," I whispered.

"I guess… But we have to finish our mission first…" she sighed, trembling slightly.

"Well then I'm gonna help you to the end, Onee-chan," I comforted.

She pulled back and wiped her eyes, shaking her head. "Mm, thanks. For now, it smells like Felix has breakfast ready so we should eat," she tried to force a smile, but we both knew things weren't going to be easy.

**!=-{+}-=!**

After eating breakfast, we both went back to the _Night Fury_ while Felix had to go to work.

"Time to go see Caden," Stella smiled.

She started skipping her way out the door, but her injured legs gave way and she almost collapsed.

Almost.

I used the Force the slow her fall and was able to catch her before she hit the ground.

"Take it slow," I said.

"Yeah, sorry…habit," she giggled.

I helped her up and we boarded the shuttle. It wasn't long before we were powered up and in the air.

"Alright, so I actually have talked to Caden in the Wake recently so this time we don't need the _Night Fury_ to find him; I know he still lives in Felixstowe," Stella noted.

"Oh? Do you play those games with him?" I asked.

"Yeah, I don't really play Warcraft or League, but I did get him into Blade & Soul. Plus, he does play SAO a bit, so I've been helping him grind levels in that," she said.

"You mentioned playing Sword Art Online back then too, how long has that game even been out?" I enquired, curious.

"Well, Sword Art Online Re;birth came out four years after the original SAO ended…so…36 years now? Most old games died out really quickly but VRMMOs somehow have been surviving for years. I'm not sure how, but it's likely due to how much content gets added to things like SAO, ALO, GGO and LEGO Realities every few years. They've miraculously kept those games alive for far longer than any other games I can think of. Even B&S died out within 20 years originally, and the remastered version was only released about 10 years ago. Then of course, there's 4GO, or 4 Goddesses Online, which was originally a popular MMORPG in Gamindustri on Zastion, but it was remastered as a VRMMORPG and released in the Wake in 2041. That's been extremely popular partly because of all the Neptunia fans, though it has gained a lot of traction with other gamers like me. Then there's the really recent Emberguard Online from just over a year ago. That one's fun… Hey you might enjoy EGO, it's inspired by 600 BBY-era Earth from the Dream Realm," the gamer girl recounted.

"Nanite kotoda… You know way too much about these things," I laughed.

Stella giggled. "Well, I take after my parents in that sense. Anyway, here we are. Grab a jacket too, remember how bloody cold it was last time,"

I remembered the last time we were here and chuckled.

_It was snowing, and I was still only in the t-shirt that Stella had given me and her jeans I had picked up. Though Stella was worse than me, having only a t-shirt and miniskirt. _

As we exited the shuttle, she threw a puffy jacket at me and I put it on.

Sure enough, it was once again snowing. The night air was freezing even through the jacket I had. We got up to the front door of the 26-year-old Jedi I used to be best friends with and knocked.

A few seconds later, the door opened and a familiar face greeted us with a rather surprised look.

"A-Amea? Stella? I wasn't expecting you two to show up," Caden noted.

"Amea was missing you so I decided to drag her here, hope you don't mind," Stella smirked.

"Oh no, I don't mind at all. It has been a while hasn't it, Amea," he smiled.

I nodded, throwing my arms around my old friend. "Sorry I've been so busy, Caden-kun," I apologised.

"Nah don't worry about it Am, I haven't exactly had much rest either with the Yuuzhan Vong War. And a _certain_ group of people I know have caused some issues for us lately," he smirked, glancing at Stella.

"Well sorry mate, no hard feelings if I have to beat your arse," she stuck her tongue out at him.

He just chuckled. "Don't worry, Connor Holwil contacted me about it, told me the whole thing. Much like you, I've read the old Star Wars books so I realised immediately what you were doing,"

I glanced between the two, relieved to not be sensing any tension despite Stella's team's outlash against the Jedi.

"Well, should probably come inside. Being midnight and all, it's pretty damn freezing out here," Caden laughed.

"Yeahh, that sounds good," I giggled.

We followed him inside, and I was unsurprised to see it was about as messy as last time.

"So hold up, you know Sally's boyfriend? The fuck?" Stella commented, taking a seat to get off her injured legs.

"So he actually is dating Sally huh? I flipping knew it! But yeah, I met Connor after I left the Academy. Been mates ever since," he nodded.

Stella chuckled. "Well at least you're not as surprised as the rest of us. Shocked the hell outta me,"

"Well you lot didn't know Connor did ya," he smirked.

"Touché,"

_**Sector 8: The Guardian Eviscerator**_

_**Rika Tarlo's POV:**_

It was about 5:30 PM when I came over San Francisco after switching out with my Wake-self. I had engaged my cloaking systems a while ago so as to not raise any suspicion from taking a fully weaponised T-70 X-Wing into US airspace.

Using a DataPad from the _Night Fury_, I was able to locate Shaun's address pretty easily. I brought my fighter down over Fairfax, shivering as the cold air started seeping into the cabin.

"Okay Shaun, I hope you're home," I whispered to myself.

Trying to not draw too much attention, I landed away from any roads. The silver and gold starfighter stood out like a sore thumb in the white snow, but there wasn't much I could do about that.

I powered down and, pulling my jacket tight around me, I climbed out and trudged through the snow to Shaun's house.

Out the front was an orange and black Skoda Octavia Wagon which, considering the house did have a garage, I assumed meant there were visitors.

_Hopefully they don't mind…_

As I made my way across the road, a girl came out of the house and went to the car. She noticed me as I got closer, and we both recognised each other.

"Rika?!" Rayna exclaimed.

"Hey Rayna, yeah it's me," I replied, though barely able to talk properly with my teeth chattering in the cold.

Rayna just giggled when she noticed this. "Geeze, come inside. It's much warmer," she smiled.

"Thanks.."

I followed Rayna into the house and was relieved to feel the warmth, despite having been sick of the heat back home.

I quickly noticed Shaun with Miki and a pink-haired girl in the living room.

"Hey Dork, guess who showed up," Rayna called.

Shaun glanced back and stared at me in surprise.

Miki and the other girl also looked over, though Miki was the one to get up and drag me over to where they were.

"Firstly, I'm questioning how you even got here," Miki questioned.

"Well, uh…" I glanced at the pink-haired girl, unsure of whether she knew of the Sleep. Miki and Shaun both noticed and pieced it together.

"Oohhh right, you actually have money," Shaun covered for me.

I just laughed, nodding. "Yeahhhh, well I do have a job. _Unlike someone we know,_"

The girls all giggled while Shaun just retracted shyly. I simply put my arms around him and held him close.

"Oh yeah, I was talking to you earlier but you haven't met Luka yet have you," Miki realised.

"Indeed I have not," I smiled.

The pinkette, Luka, also smiled. "Now how did Shaun get a girl like you," she chuckled.

"Because I just happen to like awkward-as-fuck boys," I responded jokingly. That made her laugh again.

"Well you found the king of awkward boys, so congratulations on that,"

"Tell me about it. I have to live with this weeb," Rayna commented from behind me.

"Guyyysss…" Shaun whined. I just giggled and gave him a peck on the cheek. Predictably, his face went bright red.

"So, you got somewhere to stay or you gonna stay here?" Rayna asked.

"Well, gonna be honest, didn't think too much about that," I admitted, scratching the back of my neck.

She just shook her head, laughing to herself. "Guess now I gotta take care of two older kids,"

"And yet we're all in our 20s. At least, I'm assuming Rika's in her 20s?" Luka questioned.

I nodded. "Yeah, 26. And don't worry Rayna, I'm not _that_ hopeless. I'm just a slightly socially awkward geek. Still way better than Shaun though," I smirked.

"You don't seem very socially awkward in the Dream," Shaun pointed out.

"Different me, different personality. You should see Stella in the Wake compared to the Sleep, literally a complete 180 personality change," I reminded.

"Fair enough,"

"Well, despite the fact that I still see Shaun as a little kid most of the time, as Luka pointed out you are both adults. So I got no problem with you staying here with Shaun, as long as he's fine with that," Rayna smiled.

"Yeah, fine by me," Shaun nodded, apparently just accepting Rayna's comment.

_It is interesting that he seemed far more protective over her in the Sleep while here she's the more mature one._

**!=-{+}-=!**

After that, I spent a few hours getting to know Luka and Miki before Rayna drove them home and it was just Shaun and I left.

"So how _did_ you get here?" Shaun asked.

"Eh, my old X-Wing is parked across the road," I casually responded.

"Right… Because of course it is," he chuckled.

I sighed in contempt, laying in Shaun's lap as he gently played with my hair.

"I wish I could just stay like this forever… But I guess we're gonna be fighting Jedi when we go back to the Sleep," I groaned.

"Yeah… But we'll be together, so that's what matters," he nodded.

I glanced up at him. "You realise how fucking corny that line was, right?" I laughed.

"Y-Yeah…S-Sorry,"

I just giggled and got up, kissing him on the lips.

"No need to apologise, that's why I like you," I whispered.

"Glad my awkwardness amuses you," he joked.

I rested my head on his shoulder. "Of course,"

**!=-{+}-=!**

Later that night, come about 3 AM, we finally went to bed. I huddled up close to Shaun to try to keep warm, and he gladly put his arms around me. I fell asleep rather quickly.

**Sleep**

I did wake up on-board the _Night Fury_, but when I entered the cockpit, I saw Amea had already flown back to the Dream Realm as we were entering the hangar on the _Scarlet Eviscerator_.

"So, how'd your day with your boyfriend go?" the 27-year-old Queen cheekily questioned.

"Lovely, actually. I didn't really want to return to all this bullshit but oh well," I sighed.

"Mm, I know what you mean," she nodded.

"You have fun with your old friend?"

"Yeah, Caden-kun and Stel-chan logged me into one of your VRMMORPGs, Emberguard Online. Was quite fun," she smiled.

"Oh? Let me guess, they logged you in as a male avatar?" I chuckled.

"Īe, I was playing as Black Rock Shooter,"

"I imagine that would have been weird considering Stel's avi looks nearly identical to her. Also, her class choice in EGO is rather boring, Thief is fun but the Adventurer sub-class is just so basic. Suppose I can't say much, being a Mage / Blacksmith and all," I recounted.

"I still enjoyed it, but I did see other players with the Daemon and Vampire sub-classes. They looked fun," she noted.

"Oh hell yeah, Shapeshifter and Pilot are also fun sub-classes. Also funny that I seem to know more people who've chosen the Vampire sub-class while using the Neko race than any other race. I do know one Vampire Dwarf but that's about it, the rest are Nekos,"

"Because we Nekos are adorable," Amea smirked.

"Except you're human, remember," I reminded her.

"Hey, I'm basically a Neko. I grew up in East Medoua!" she defended.

"Alright, Queen of a human kingdom," I teased.

The girl pouted adorably and puffed out her chest.

As we both left the shuttle, I immediately noticed Sally off to the side with a completely new look.

"Whoa there, Satele Shan," I laughed, catching her attention.

"Yeah, just wanted a new outfit. Kinda liked Satele's so figured why not," she gave a weak smile.

_Still pretty down I see… Guess that makes sense, she likely won't be recovering for a while yet._

"_We are about to make the final jump to The Maw, please prepare_," came a voice over the intercom from one of the ship's commanding officers.

"Time to fight the Jedi…" Sally sighed. We were all still very uncomfortable with the idea, but at this point we couldn't back out. Too much was at stake.

_We can't let Abeloth get to Styra or the other younglings._

_**Stella Khai's POV:**_

All of us were on the _Night Fury_, including our temporary allies, preparing to try to take care of the _Errant Venture_. Once we did that, the _Scarlet Eviscerator_ could make its way to Shelter and aid the Younglings.

But we were 18 Sleeping Knights against an entire _Imperator II_-class Star Destroyer full of Jedi. Things weren't exactly in our favour.

_I just hope our parents aren't there… I don't particularly feel like fighting mum and dad…_

Though I knew I'd likely have to fight my parents eventually. I was just glad they didn't get angry at us in the Wake for things we did here, so even if we did fight them it was unlikely to affect our relationship with them back in our world.

I looked at our non-Jedi (and non-demon) allies, slightly worried how they'd be able to handle fighting Jedi. But I had fought alongside Shaun so I knew he was capable, and I had already seen Minako in action long ago. I was mainly worried about Rayna and Miki.

"Alright, I hope we're all ready 'cause it's action time," Felix alerted.

After looking over the team one last time, I nodded to Felix and we both sat down to pilot the classic _Herald_-class Shuttle towards a fight against the people who used to own it.

_Just hang in there,_ Night Fury_. We're likely to be attacked as soon as we're detected…_

"Last chance to back out, Stel," Felix whispered.

I shook my head. "No. We can't back out now,"

He nodded and gave me a quick kiss before we powered the shuttle up and left the hangar of the _Scarlet Eviscerator_.

"Cloaking enabled, but it looks like the _Errant Venture_'s on alert. They've seen the _Eviscerator_, they know we're here," Rika noted.

"Good to know. Once we get close, divert power to the guns. We're destroying the hangar's shield generator to get in. We'll have to be quick though, as soon as we fire, they'll know where we are," I ordered.

Rika nodded, preparing the guns.

Cautiously, we piloted the _Night Fury_ close to the hangar on the under-side of the Star Destroyer.

"Get ready,"

I brought the shuttle into position.

"Now,"

The cloaking device turned off and our QE X-94s made quick work of the hangar's external shielding systems. We brought the ship into the hangar before the main door closed to keep the area air-tight.

"Remember, non-lethal for now, our only focus is saving the Younglings! Go! Go! Go!"

We all poured out of the shuttle and started our journey to the bridge. It wasn't long before we were met by Jedi and New Republic soldiers though, and quickly our weapons went into action.

I pushed a lightsabre aside with my Black Blade, punching the Jedi in the face and using a Force blast to send another Jedi flying back into a wall.

I sensed danger and looked around just in time to see a New Republic soldier shoot a blast towards me, but the bolt was stopped midway as Sally absorbed it into her hand.

_Huh, she's been practising her tutaminis I see._

I knocked the soldier out with the Force and glanced around to see the rest of the attackers had been neutralised. And not a single one of them had been killed.

I pushed aside my admiration of how well the Knights had handled that fight and pressed on.

But something was off.

"Why's it so quiet, this doesn't seem right," said Lyla after we had gotten most of the way without any more encounters.

"I smell a trap," Aisha commented.

"Definitely a trap," agreed Miki and Rayna at the same time.

"Maybe this was a bad idea," worried Minako, unusually serious-sounding.

I glanced over at Amea.

'_I don't like this…_'

_Me neither…_

Finally, we arrived at the bridge. And as I had been starting to expect, I sensed a lot of Force presence behind the blast doors.

"They could have made it slightly less obvious," Felix commented.

"Do we have a plan B?" Connor asked.

"What about the engine room? I can hack the ship from there," Rika said.

"When we don't enter these doors, they'll realise we went somewhere else. I say Rika goes to the engine room with one other person, the rest of us can distract the Jedi," Sonia figured.

"Amea, you're up. Keep Rika safe," I immediately said, picking Amea since she could always tell me if there was trouble.

The girl in question nodded and went off with the tech expert.

"So, now we try to survive," Jane sighed.

"Don't worry Cuz," smirked Tarev.

"We're Sleeping Knights, remember?" Savara added.

"The twins are right, we're the Sleeping Knights. We've trained to fight some of the most powerful enemies the galaxy has ever seen," I agreed.

"Alright, but we shouldn't stay around if things get too heated," Lara pointed out.

"Don't worry, we just have to buy Rika enough time," I grinned.

With that we opened the blast doors.

And were immediately met by about 50 Jedi.

And one Virtcast member.

"_Fuck…_" groaned Matt as his mother turned to face us.

"So, it's true…" Kiarna sighed, sounding disappointed.

"I'm sorry, Kiarna. But we have no choice. You know exactly what threat lies within the Maw," I said.

"A Force Entity that we defeated in the Clone Wars, yes," she stated.

"Just because you defeated it back then doesn't mean everything's fine and dandy," Sonia noted.

"Perhaps not, but _we_ have no choice either. The Yuuzhan Vong are too dangerous,"

"Except you could take the younglings to our realm," I pointed out.

"And what then? Earthen countries wouldn't be too happy having a Star Destroyer consistently nearby," she explained.

"Who said you had to stay near Earth," came Jane's response.

"The younglings are safe, we'll be protecting them," came another familiar voice.

This time it was Lara's turn to groan as Clarissa appeared behind us.

"Bullshit. Or has my dad not told you what happens to those younglings," I growled.

"My brother has simply told us to keep an eye on them, and I trust his and Vestara's judgement," Clarissa replied.

'_We're about to start a timer to send the ship into hyperspace. We'll have about 5 minutes to get back to the _Night Fury_,_' came the voice of Amea in my head.

_Alright, once I give the signal, tell Rika to start the countdown and then run back to the hangar. We're gonna have to blast our way out of that hangar…_

"Please don't take this path," came another familiar voice, and I noticed Master Katooni with Master Petro behind Kiarna.

"I honestly thought everyone here would be smarter, this whole situation is stupid," I sighed, before summoning my Black Blade. "Either way, we're leaving now. Clearly talking to you lot is useless,"

The rest of the Knights grabbed their weapons as we slowly backed out of the room.

"And I didn't think I'd have to do this now that you're all adults, but you're staying here, _grounded_," Clarissa said, igniting her lightsabre.

"You're grounding us…? Seriously…?" Minako deadpanned.

"I'm really sorry mum!" Lara exclaimed, before swinging her new gold sabre at Clarissa.

Lara's mother blocked the blade, but the rest of us took the chance to run past. Lyla grabbed Lara on the way past and we ran.

_Now, Amea!_

We had a bunch of Jedi behind us as we ran, but I focused hard on the corridor and brought the whole place crashing down behind us, blocking them from continuing to chase us.

It was looking like we'd get to the hangar fine for a bit.

Unfortunately, we ran into a certain two Jedi Masters on our way out.

"_Crap…_" I groaned.

"Don't do this, Stella," said my mother.

"You guys go ahead, I'll deal with these two," I told the rest of the Knights. They all agreed and went to find another way to the hangar.

"It's not too late, Stel," my father noted.

"No, it's not. That's why I'm doing this now. The Jedi are as much at fault as the Sith are for all this war and unbalance. But of course, you already know that,"

"And yet we know the timeline. We would rather not fuck that up," he responded.

"The timeline is already fucked up just by our presence here, or do you not see that?" I growled, annoyed that after all these years, the Virtcast were still worried about screwing up a timeline that never really applied to us anyway.

"Thanks to Star Wars, we knew when the end of the Republic came, we knew about the Galactic Civil War, the two Death Stars and their destructions, the New Republic, the Bastion Accords, the Yuuzhan Vong. Hell, we even knew Chewbacca would die two years ago. And we know we'll have Darth Caedus and Abeloth to deal with in a few years time," Vestara pointed out.

"And what about the fall of Arndel? Or Josh? Or Tey, Lyla, Elaine, The Sky Walker, Lachie, Luke and Deathbringer? What about Estella? Oh, better yet, how about the Yuuzhan Vong's attacks on Earth? Oh that's right, NONE OF THAT EXISTED IN STAR WARS! The timeline you've so desperately been trying to protect isn't even the one you think it is because the simple presence of Earth and everyone on it has changed this reality. Besides, what good is knowing the future when you guys refuse to do ANYTHING about it?! You could have stopped the Yuuzhan Vong from ever entering our galaxy and maybe Chewbacca would still be ALIVE! In-fact, maybe Cierra would still be alive! Or did you not realise that my clone killed her?" I shouted at them, my eye flame raging angrily and my eyes glowing brightly.

They both seemed a little taken aback by my outburst, but Chris quickly regained his composure. "Indeed, there've been things we couldn't predict. But if you do this, the entire future becomes unknown-"

"I DON'T GIVE A FUCKING DAMN ABOUT KNOWING THE FUTURE! No one is even supposed to know the future, and if you do know something bad is going to happen then it's your job to fucking stop it! Or are you really that fucking heartless?" I cut him off.

_God, how fucking stupid are these cunts?_

"Stella Trineti Khai, watch yourself young lady. We protect the galaxy from all the threats that they can't deal with, things like the Yuuzhan Vong war is something they can. Especially since the Qeios Empire and a bunch of other forces from Earth, including you and us, are all out there fighting. But what if someone like The Sky Walker came in while the galaxy is in a mess that we didn't know if they could deal with?" my mother sounded a lot sterner than I had ever heard her this time, but that didn't sway me.

"Then we'd deal with him. The galaxy doesn't need you to babysit it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a shuttle to catch," I began to walk past them, but paused when both of them grabbed lightsabres. "_You really think that's a good idea?_" I growled.

Both sabres ignited, dad's purple one and mum's red one. I summoned my Black Blade and crouched down in a defensive position.

"I'm sorry Stella, but we can't let you do this," Vestara sighed.

They both charged at me and swung, but I acted at lightning speeds and pushed the purple sabre away before catching the red sabre on my blade within less than a second.

I flipped up, pushing aside the red blade and kicking Chris in the face, ducking under his sabre and twisting my body over Vestara's sabre. My blade came down across Chris's chest, but he managed to jump back and deflect the sword on his lightsabre.

My blade went to cut across Vestara's chest, but she twirled her sabre around in time to block it. Once more, I jumped up and kicked Chris's hand and lightsabre away, bringing my sword back around to him. He brought out his red sabre at the last second and blocked it. I landed, swinging again and using the hilt of my Black Blade to smack Vestara. She crashed backwards into the wall, stunned.

Chris attacked with both sabres, drawing my attention back away from my mother. Clearly expecting me to jump back to avoid the two-directional slice, he was shocked when I dashed forward, crashing into him.

And running my sword through his abdomen.

He coughed, shocked at the sudden pain.

"I'm so sorry, daddy," I whispered, before bringing my sword back out as he dropped to his knees.

I then turned to Vestara.

Rage seemed to fill her after she saw Chris as she glared at me. "You little bitch," she growled. She charged at me, both lightsabres in-hand.

I blocked both of them and punched her in the gut, before coming about with a roundhouse kick and sending her into another wall. Without giving her a break, I dashed at her and swung down at her neck. She successfully blocked it at the last second and made an attempt at my arm with her second sabre.

Lightning fast reflexes saved me as I pushed her blade aside and backflipped, kicking her in the face, before rushing back in, aimed at her neck. She was completely unable to react, but I stopped at the last moment, my blade literally touching her neck.

"I'm not going to kill you, mum… But please, understand that we have to do this…" I quietly said.

She seemed stunned at my speed, but sighed. "Alright. We won't stand in your way,"

My sword vanished.

We heard Chris chuckling in the background. "That was a good fight, Stel. I'm impressed," he smirked.

Vestara nodded, smiling slightly.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm down from my outburst and fight against my own parents. "Well, I gotta run before this ship gets sent into hyperspace,"

"Wait, hyperspace? What did y'all do…?" dad questioned.

"Uhh, Rika may or may not have overridden the hyperdrive and put a 5-minute timer on it… No hard feelings!" I quickly started sprinting down the hall.

'_Stella, there's only two minutes until the timer goes off,'_

_Copy, I won't make it so leave before me. I'll go get an escape pod._

'_Aisha's also on the ship still, we ran into some Jedi and she stayed behind to give us time,'_

_I'll find her._

I rushed through the corridors and finally came across the demon girl as she was just taking care of the last Jedi.

"I'm impressed that you didn't kill a single one of them," I smirked.

"Only because everyone would have gotten mad at me if I did," she replied, though she gave a small smile.

"The _Night Fury_'s leaving and we've got about 45 seconds to get to an escape pod," I told her.

"Then we should probably run,"

And run we did. It was lucky we weren't far from an escape pod and managed to escape just as the Star Destroyer entered hyperspace.

"That was too close…" I breathed a sigh of relief.

_**Felix Calnore's POV:**_

"Stella says to go," said Amea, taking the pilot's seat next to me.

"Aight, I hope everyone's strapped in because the _Errant Venture_ will probably try to shoot at us," I warned as we powered up.

I aimed the guns at the blast doors and blew them to bits, allowing Amea to take us out of the hangar.

"Shields up, I hope you're a good pilot, Amea, because the _Errant Venture_ is already in a broadside battle with the _Scarlet Eviscerator_ and we're about to fly right through the middle of that," Rika alerted as we came out to see exactly what she just said.

"_Eviscerator,_ back down. We don't need to worry about the _Venture_, it'll be gone in about a minute and a half," I alerted over the comms.

Sure enough, the giant grey and red _Subjugator_-class began pulling away from the red _Imperator II_-class.

The shuttle rocked as a turbolaser from the Star Destroyer hit us.

"No damage, shields holding," Rika reported.

"That's about to change, look," said Lara, pointing behind the _Eviscerator_.

Right there was the jet-black _Virtula_-class Attack Frigate we all knew as the _Night Fury Guardian_.

The turbolasers lit up as they began firing on the _Eviscerator_.

And us.

Another violent shake as the shuttle was hit by the more powerful blasts from the _Guardian_.

"So much for being the _Night Fury Guardian_," groaned Jane, taking a seat behind me.

"We just need to get into the _Eviscerator_. Amea, mind if I take control?" said Matt. Amea nodded and allowed the more experienced pilot to take her place.

"One engine is down, second one is overheating," Rika alerted after another hit from the frigate shook us around.

"Alright, shut down the engines. I'm bringing it in on ion thrusters alone," Matt ordered.

I glanced to my right at the 26-year-old, surprised. "There's no way you'll be able to control it without the main engines,"

He simply gave me a smirk. "Wanna bet? I've been helping Stella fly this thing for 10 plus years, I can do it,"

"Look out!" called Amea. A bit too late as the left wing of the shuttle was ripped straight off by another blast.

"_Shit._ That's gonna make this a lot harder," Matt groaned as the shuttle became incredibly unstable. "Hold on tight everyone!"

We managed to get behind the _Eviscerator_ and out of the firing range of the _Guardian_. Matt aimed the shuttle at the hangar, and we were coming in hot. I braced myself for the impact as we shot through the entrance. He brought it down on the ground and we slid for a few hundred metres. Using the ion thrusters, he managed to turn the shuttle so the cockpit wasn't crushed against the back wall, but we were all covered in glass and electrical sparks as the _Night Fury_ hit the back wall of the hangar at a good 200 km/h. Huge whiplash caused a lot of pain throughout all of us, and most of us would need to spend some time in the bacta tank after that landing.

"Well…" I panted. "Another happy landing,"

Everyone burst into laughter, despite the pain and cuts and broken bones we had.

_**Sector 9: Final Revelations**_

_**Stella Khai's POV:**_

I was worried to see the _Night Fury Guardian_ broadsiding the _Scarlet Eviscerator_, even moreso when I realised I didn't know if Sebastian was on our ship or the Virtcast's ship. But in the end, the _Eviscerator_ was built to beat the _Guardian_, so I had some confidence.

We guided the escape pod towards a docking hatch toward the rear of the _Scarlet Eviscerator_, and successfully connected with the dreadnaught.

"So now what?" Aisha asked.

"Now I guess we get out of here before the _Guardian_ does too much damage," I sighed.

We both entered the _Eviscerator_ just in time to see an injured Rika flying past.

"The fuck?!" I exclaimed, looking at where she had come from.

Standing there with an injured and nervous-looking (and weapon-less) Shaun, was Estella Noral.

"What the fuck!? I thought I killed you!" I yelled out in shock.

"I made a second clone of myself, idiot," Estella shot back. Her tone and speech was much different to the Estella we had fought before. She was no longer completely monotone and emotionless, rather she sounded more like…a tsundere? The main other difference I noticed was she had followed my lead in changing her top to a singlet top instead of a bikini top.

"You really don't want to give up, do you," I groaned, summoning my Black Blade.

"Well i-it's not like I wanted to do this, the other me just forced me to," she responded, also summoning a White Blade.

_Well, the sword is easier to deal with than the scythe. But god damn is she a fucking tsundere now!_

What surprised me more was the fact that she pulled Shaun behind her as if she was protecting him.

"Wh-What?" Shaun stuttered.

"Just shut up, idiot!" she yelled, before charging at me.

I stepped in front of Aisha protectively and our blades clashed violently.

As I had planned, Aisha tried to sneak around and get to Shaun so as to awaken her powers, but Estella noticed this and brought her blade across, almost decapitating the demon.

A Force blast later from the clone and Shaun was sent flying down the corridor out of sight.

I glanced back at Rika, who looked torn on helping us or aiding Shaun. I simply indicated toward where Shaun had vanished and she nodded, running off to help her boyfriend.

There was no way for Rika to help us anyway.

Though before she did run off, she threw her lightsabre to me. Swinging at Estella to distract her, I tossed the sabre to Aisha who ignited the yellow blade.

"It's over, Estella," I said. Her response was a swing of her blade towards my chest, which I successfully blocked and allowed an opening for Aisha to try to get her. The yellow lightsabre connected with Estella's stomach and left a huge cut as the girl tried to push the blade away from herself.

The cut was mostly healed in a few seconds, but we didn't let up as I brought my sword down on top of her, forcing her to block me again. She went down to her knee under the pressure, but built up a Force blast and sent me flying. I smacked against the roof and fell to the floor, my vision going blurry for a moment.

I recovered quickly though and looked back to see Estella going all out on Aisha. She was holding out, but barely.

Suddenly though, Aisha's lightsabre-hand was forced aside by Estella's leg and, as if in slow motion, the White Blade came right at her neck.

A look of pure terror and panic crossed Aisha's face when she realised her situation. "SIS!" she screamed, closing her eyes.

Within a split second, my Black Blade was resting on Aisha's shoulder, successfully catching the White Blade.

Aisha slowly opened her eyes to see how close to death she had just come, and quickly slunk away when she realised she had been saved.

"You'll pay for that," I growled in a low voice, my eye flame igniting in a hot rage and intertwining with hers.

I forced her back and spun my sword around in an attempt to stab her. She hit the blade away harmlessly and spun her whole body around to try to slash across my stomach. My blade ended up in her way once more though so she spun the other way, hoping to do the same from my right. But that ended the same way.

Another few blocked swings at each other and we both had the same idea of trying to punch the other. Our fists met halfway, sending out a small shockwave from the force we put behind it. A huge spark of pain ran up my arm as my knuckle cracked loudly. Estella experienced the same thing and we both retracted our hands.

During the split second we were both distracted by our now broken knuckles, Aisha had gotten behind Estella and the yellow blade of Rika's lightsabre appeared through the white-haired girl's chest. I took my chance during her momentary lapse of concentration, cutting her arm off before bringing the blade around again to cut her head off.

For the second time, Estella's head went rolling across the ground as her lifeless body fell to its knees, collapsing onto its side.

"…is that finally fucking over…?" I cautiously questioned.

"I…think so…hopefully," said Aisha, still recovering from the shock of her near-death experience.

Which reminded me…

"Aisha… During that fight, you called out for your sister, didn't you?" I quietly asked, despawning my sword and extinguishing my eye flame.

She looked away, embarrassed. "Y-Yeah… To tell you the truth, I've got four older siblings. Three sisters and a brother… The thing is… Well, I've never gotten along well with them because I'm a lot less…demonic. One of my sisters still showed me affection and cared for me though…her name was Stella…"

I was…surprised, to say the least. "Your sister is named Stella…? So just now, you called me your sister because of that?"

She nodded. "I meant to say Stella, but my mind was in a panic and automatically linked the name to my sister and, well… I called out sis instead,"

I put my hand on her shoulder, giving her a gentle smile. She glanced at the hand, before burying her face in my chest.

"The real truth is…I didn't have my powers stripped when I was banished… I was banished _because_ I lost my powers. I was so clumsy and one day I just had an accident involving a holy artefact. It kinda just got rid of my powers, and my parents exiled me from the planet…" she admitted, crying into my singlet.

_Rika told me she gets her powers from kissing a virgin… Well, I'm not exactly a virgin but… I wonder if my sheer amount of power can do anything to help her? Maybe my experience with Deathbringer can help?_

Deciding to say fuck it, I pulled her away and looked at her with a smile.

"I don't know if I can return your powers, but maybe I have something that can. I don't exactly have the item with me, but…"

My eye flame ignited in a small glow, and I focused on projecting Aisha into my mind. I showed her my memory of fighting Deathbringer.

Our surroundings warped and we stood in the plaza where I had defeated the demon known as Deathbringer. In front of us was a frozen scene. Off on one side was me, when I had first managed to summon my Black Blade. On the other was Deathbringer, in all her 6-foot-tall glory.

Aisha cautiously went up to Deathbringer. She glanced back to me for confirmation, and I nodded. She proceeded to touch the gauntlet, and suddenly a red glow began emanating from her.

I sensed her power levels skyrocketing.

Finally, a huge wave of power was let out which brought us back to reality.

"So… How'd that go?" I asked.

She looked up at me, a small smile starting to cross her face. "I can feel all my powers returning… Thank you, Stella,"

She once again hugged me, and I returned the hug.

"Just as long as you don't cause any problems for us," I smirked.

"Eh, I might from time to time," she cheekily grinned.

But I could tell she was genuinely thankful, so I let it slide.

"We should check on the others, I think we're safe from the _Guardian_ now because I felt the ship enter hyperspace earlier," I said. Aisha simply nodded, and we went to find where everyone else was.

**!=-{+}-=!**

**Wake, 2 months later**

I followed quietly as Rika knocked on the door. It was a pleasantly cool Spring day in California, but I was still wearing a simple t-shirt and short-cut denim shorts.

The door was opened, and a rather scraggy-looking Shaun stood in front of us.

"Rika!" he smiled, pulling his girlfriend into a hug.

"Hey Shaun! Been a while here in the Wake, huh?" Rika responded happily.

"Been a while in the Dream too, what with me and everyone else who helped at Accordia being fired from the Montana Royal Guard and being rehired by Sonia as Qeian Royal Guards. And you've been pretty busy from what I hear, continuing to defend Earth from the Yuuzhan Vong," he explained.

"Yeah, sure has been a busy few months huh…"

He then looked to me. "Rock?! You look totally different in the Real World!"

I laughed and gave him a wink. "Mhm, hell of a lot cuter out here," I teased. I noticed him eyeing my shirt, and smirked. "Yes, this is an official Dragon Motorsport shirt from the Enduros. I found it in a pile of stuff mum had given me, it's her shirt from when she was behind the scenes helping the team,"

"That's certainly a nostalgic sight," came another, older voice. Behind Shaun, an older guy appeared. I instantly recognised him as Jackson Bailey, my father's co-driver from 2018.

I glanced back at the car where my dad was hanging up his phone and coming to say hey. "Jacko you old bastard, been a fucken while!" he exclaimed when he saw Shaun's dad.

"Ay, Caster! Good to see ya," he smirked. I just rolled my eyes as the two old blokes caught up.

"Hard to believe those two used to be racers," Rika commented.

"Yeah, would have loved to see them in action. I mean, I've seen the tapes so I have seen them in action, but it would be awesome to actually have a look at the car," I nodded.

"Honestly, I kinda want to know what it's like driving an old Supercar," Shaun noted.

"Hell yeah! I've done it in games, but to do it for real would be badass!" I laughed.

At that point, my dad overheard my comment.

"Well, Stel, we do have the #24 MSi Dragon Motorsport Commodore here in the US, was thinking you two could be the drivers this time," he called out.

"What?! You mean, we get to drive the actual Commodore that you drove in the Enduros?!" I exclaimed excitedly.

"Yes. I actually had it shipped over here for an event at Laguna Seca, but we figured it'd be cool for you to have a go in it," he continued.

I glanced at Shaun. "Hell yes,"

_**Kaitlyn Herle's POV:**_

_**Meanwhile in the Sleep**_

"Tell me again why we're going to a Sith world to check on a baby who is supposed to become a Sith?" I groaned as our shuttle dropped out of hyperspace over the Sith home world of Kesh.

"Because the future has been altered a lot, and Stella-chan fears that something might try to destroy the past thanks to what the Virtcast did all those years ago," my best friend, Amea Nerriss replied.

"I'm not sure I follow…" I looked at her curiously.

"During the Clone Wars, the Virtcast travelled through time and brought back various people to help them. The Sleeping Knights have been making sure everyone else is born without issue, but it's up to us three to check on this girl. Because you're not Force sensitive, I can use Stella's Dark Side power and Lyla used to be a Sith," she explained.

"Right, but why do we have to check on them?" I still didn't quite understand.

Lyla stepped forward. "Because time travel is dangerous. If someone were to kill these people before they were transported through time, it's possible that our entire timeline could be broken,"

_Oh, right… Didn't think of that… That's a bit annoying…_

"Wouldn't that mean we have to take care of this girl until the Virtcast come get her?"

"No, we simply have to give the others a way of keeping an eye on her," Lyla noted, holding out a small droid-like device. "This can remain undetected and will observe the girl to ensure her safety,"

We landed away from the main city of Tahv so as not to draw attention and made our way to where Amea said the girl we were looking for lived.

Sure enough, we arrived just as two people I assumed were her parents left the house.

"There'll probably be a baby-sitter. Don't make too much commotion," Lyla warned.

We entered the house and quickly found a baby's room.

And in that room was a little girl, fast asleep.

Lyla smiled, going over to the cot. "Hey Ves, long time no see. I miss you so much…" she whispered.

I glanced at Amea, who looked like she was realising something.

"…this is your wife, isn't it? This is Vestara Khai…" Amea quietly said.

Lyla nodded. "Yeah, it is…" she paused for a moment, before putting the small droid beside Vestara. "Keep watch over her, but don't be seen. Protecting her is up to you now," she whispered.

"Alright, now we need to leave. Come on Lyla," Amea said.

Lyla was hesitant, but nodded. We left and successfully got back to the ship without raising suspicion.

"I'm sure you'll see her again one day," I told Lyla.

_**Alex Fabled's POV:**_

_**Meanwhile on Earth**_

"So, who exactly is this guy?" asked the young female neko that was aiding me and Serena with our issue.

"We don't know his name, just that he's a human and that he murdered one of our friends," I explained.

"Must be a tough human, Kitsunes aren't the easiest people to kill," commented the other neko, a big burly guy who, if it weren't for the fact that Serena and I were Kitsunes, would probably be able to snap us in half with ease.

"We're here," noted Serena, bringing the shuttle down near an old shack, next to a large river leading towards the West Medouan coast.

"Alright, you ready, Yamasaki-san?" the girl smirked at her companion.

"Of course, Matoi-chan," he smiled.

I looked to Serena.

"For Saki-chan," she whispered.

"For Saki-chan," I echoed.

All four of us exited the shuttle and cautiously approached the shack.

"Wait…move!" I quickly warned. As I had expected, a blaster bolt came flying past us.

I drew my katana, ready to defend against the attacker. Serena sent a blast of explosive magic at the shack, which caused the enemy to come out before the whole house blew up.

Serena, Matoi and Yamasaki all drew their weapons.

"No way, I know you! You caused a whole heap of problems back home!" Matoi commented.

"Elyas Lawson, wanted in basically every country on Earth for theft, murder, sexual assault and property damage," Serena recited, also recognising the man.

"And you must be Serena Echevalier and Alex Fabled of the West Medouan Military. I heard you both did a good job in that war, 600 years ago. But you should have brought your TSFs," Elyas smirked, before charging at us with a katana.

Matoi blocked his first strike on her short-sword, before Yamasaki pushed him back with his sword. Though a quick shout from Elyas and his katana began glowing blue. As he swung towards Yamasaki, a wave of water magic blasted the big neko back into a tree.

I charged, activating a fire spell on my blade and swinging towards Elyas. He dodged, but at the same time was stunned by an electrical spell from Serena.

"Kamigami no ikari o kanjiru," Serena taunted, activating a powerful spell which would usually mean certain death for anyone, and charging at Elyas.

"I don't think so," he responded, activating his own spell.

Both katanas clashed, sparking, before a huge explosion of magic power released from the contact. Matoi and I fell backwards, though we weren't hit by the main brunt of the explosion.

However, both Serena and Elyas were sent flying. Serena smashed through multiple trees before coming to a rest a few hundred metres away, while Elyas landed in the river.

I rushed to the river-side, looking for the human. But I was surprised when I saw Elyas swim away with a fish tail.

"So he's actually part-merman," Matoi commented, coming up beside me.

"You don't think he was the run-away heir to the throne of Atlantica, do you?"

"You mean the son of that dead Princess, Ariel? Oh shit…"

I rushed back to Serena.

"You okay?" I asked.

"O-Ouch…I'm 645-years-old and I've never seen anyone except a kitsune survive that attack…" she groaned, unable to really move after executing such a powerful spell.

"Guess we found a human who was able to learn kitsune magic," I sighed, beginning to use healing magic on her.

"Well…kuso…"

**AND THAT'S IT! Twice as long as the normal Sister Knights/Sister Holidays stories, but that's it. I probably confused people with some of the new characters that have history interacting with the MCs, like Amea, but I promise they'll be explained one day! Amea's actually from a side-story set during Ep7. Anyway, hope you enjoyed that extra long Episode! I do have one problem… At the time of finishing this, Star Wars Ep9's title has not been released… For the next Eps that won't be an issue, but I at least want to get one last title parody in before we start using original titles. Meaning…this story will be held back until Ep9's title is revealed. So, for future note, this story was finished at about 7 PM AEST on the 3****rd**** of March, 2019. (Started around the 18****th**** of October, 2018) **

**FINALLY on the 13****th**** of April I get the title! Woo! XD**

**-Night  
Solar System Squad 2019**


End file.
